The immediate-past Chief Justice of Ghana, Sophia Akuffo, has stated that she is able free to share her genuine thoughts without restriction since she no longer occupies a government position. Speaking with the media at the forefront of the Ministry of Finance in Accra, Madam Akuffo voiced her displeasure against government's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) as she stood with the many pensioners who picketed at the Finance Ministry.

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“Let me see you doing something serious because we’ve seen these sorts of things for a very long time. I’m over 70 now, and I’m no longer a government employee. My mouth has been ungagged and I’m talking and I’m saying what I feel and it is important that, the elderly in this nation..." “There are quite a number of people here today, who retired last year, last two years.

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When they retired, they put everything into government bonds and now all of a sudden, you virtually want to, at gunpoint, force them to agree with you that the repayment of their investment or yields of their investments should be as you dictate it.

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Why? "Why are we in the mess we are in, nobody has fully explained it to us, yes debts, we took debts, what was it used for? Where is the accountability? You are not telling us about how you are going to make things better but just ‘help me and I’ll help you’ no, you help yourself first.

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The immediate-past Chief Justice of Ghana, who was appointed by the sitting president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, explained that she is there with the pensioners out of solidarity.

She stated that while she is not going to be affected by the government’s DDEP, she finds it wicked for the government to sacrifice the profits of retirees – people who have sacrificed for Ghana, just so that it is able

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to solve its own problems in managing the economy. “This is just by God’s grace that I’m not included and it’s very heart-breaking to see people of, particularly, this age group – some are a bit older than me, some are somewhat a bit younger than me, but these are all people who have worked, worked very hard.

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They could have left the country when others were leaving, they left, they stayed, they worked for the nation and we’ve had our ups and downs and everything but bit by bit. “A lot of us are from the generation where you were encouraged to save for tomorrow. We’ve been through times when all your savings become nonsense because of some government policy.

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Then over the years, bit by bit, people have become more confident in the economy, in investments and all that,” she added. She stressed that it is unlawful for the government to be pushing this agenda, including profits of pensioners who have invested in bonds. “I find this wicked; I find it disrespectful; I find it unlawful; I find it totally wrong. Period. Because you don’t solve your problems by sacrificing your aged.

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That’s the last thing you should do especially when we don’t have any services that are specially geared at the comfort and the relief of the aged,” she added.

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