Debt Exchange: This is wickedness, disrespectful, unlawful, totally wrong – Sophia Akuffo on inclusion of pensioners
A former Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana Sophia Akuffo has rejected the inclusion of pensioners in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
Speaking to journalists after joining a group of pensioners to picket at the Ministry of Finance in Accra on Friday February 10, she said “These are all people who have worked, they have worked very hard, they could have left the country when others were going but they stayed, they worked for the nation.
“We have had our ups and downs. A lot of us were from generations where we were encouraged to save for tomorrow and all that. We have been through times where all your savings become nonsense because of some government policies, then over the years, bit by bit, people have become more confident in the economy and investments
.
“Quite a number of people here today, when they retired last two years they have put everything into government bonds, it is a contract and now all of a sudden, you virtually want to force them to agree with you that the repayment of the yield of their investment should be as you dictate it. Why?”
She further criticized the government for not being able to account for the borrowings done over the years.
“Why are we in the mess? Nobody has fully explained to us, yes we took debt, what was it used for? and where is the accountability? Exactly what was it used for? You are not telling us about how you are going to be able to make things better but just that ‘help me and I help you’, no, you help yourself first, let me see you doing something serious because we have seen these sort of things too many times.
“I am over 70 years now, I am no longer government employed, my mouth has been ungagged and I am talking and I am saying that we have failed and it is important that the elderly should be respected. I find this wicked, I find it disrespectful, I find it unlawful, I find it totally wrong.”
The pensioners have been picketing at the Ministry since Monday, February 6 to be exempted from the Programme.
Deadline for voluntary subscribers to join the Programme is Friday after the Ministry gave another extension from Tuesday, February 7.
Already, government has reached agreements with banks, insurance companies and securities companies to join the Programme, which is meant to be part of the country’s debt restructuring exercise ahead of an extended credit facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Government had assured all active workers of exempting their pension funds from the Programme but is said to have included pensioners’ funds in its revised memorandum.
READ: Former CJ Sophia Akuffo joins bondholders to picket at Finance Ministry
Most of the pensioners say the bonds with government is their only source of livelihood, having worked to save those monies.
Government’s seeming nonchalance to their demands forced them to begin an action, which sees them come to the Finance Ministry between 10:00am and 11:00am each day to press them home.
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
The Ghana Education News Editorial Team is a specialized collective of education researchers, journalists, and policy analysts dedicated to providing high-fidelity reporting on the Ghanaian academic landscape. Serving as a primary bridge between governing bodies—including the Ghana Education Service (GES) and WAEC—and the public, the team leverages over a decade of combined experience to serve students, parents, and educators nationwide.
Lead Architect & Editor-in-Chief
The team is led by Wisdom Kojo Eli Hammond, a distinguished Ghanaian Edu-Tech Entrepreneur, AI Solutions Developer, and Product Architect with over 25 years of cross-disciplinary experience in education, finance, and digital media. Wisdom is the visionary force behind SkulManager, Ghana’s premier school management ecosystem, and the Lead Consultant at Education-News Consult.
A self-taught innovator, professional Web Designer, and regular columnist on GhanaWeb, Wisdom engineered SkulManager.com as the only platform strictly tailored to the GES Curriculum. His technical leadership has redefined educational assessment through a Hybrid Marking Ecosystem, pioneering the BECE and WASSCE Home Mock services—a unique fusion of WAEC-trained human examiners and advanced AI marking engines operational since 2022.
Wisdom’s 360-degree view of institutional challenges is grounded in his tenure as College President and Lecturer at Pinnacle College (Achimota), as well as his background as a school administrator and accountant. He is a dedicated lifelong learner currently advancing his studies at the Accra Institute of Technology (AIT), with academic ties to the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).
An accomplished author, his works include Returnees of the Dead Forest (UK Published), Simplified Beacon of Light (850+ Q&A), and The Leader in Me. A foundational pillar of the award-winning NGO Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG), Wisdom is committed to building intelligent systems that solve societal problems and prepare the next generation of Ghanaian students for a digital future.
Contact: 0550360658 | Portals: GhanaEducation.org, GhanaEducationNews.org, SkulManager.com, BECEPrep.com. Educationnewsconsult.com etc