DDE: It is wicked, disrespectful to include our bonds – Sophia Akuffo
The picketing by the Pensioner Bondholders Forum at the Ministry of Finance, has entered day five.
Today, Friday, 10 February 2023, former Chief Justice (CJ) Sophia Akuffo, also joined the pensioner bondholders to picket at the premises of the Finance Ministry to drive home their demands that their investments be exempted from government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
The former CJ, was seen seated wielding a placard that read: “We use our bond yields to pay our rents, medical bills, electricity bills, water bills.”
Speaking to journalists, the former CJ said: “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 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?”
The former CJ also questioned how the country reached its current economic mess.
“Why are we in the mess? Nobody has fully explained to us, yes we took loans, 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 if you are doing something serious because we have seen these sorts of things too many times.
She also described government’s decision on the bondholders as disrespectful.
“We are over 70 years now, I am no longer government employed, my mouth has been unguarded, 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 former CJ stated.
