Hon. Clement Abas Apaak has indicated that he has heard from “reliable sources” that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has asked the former Chief Justice of Ghana to a meeting.

After former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo joined pensioners in picketing the government’s plan to include their bonds in its Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), the Member of Parliament for Builsa South said that the president had reached out to her.

“Deep throat sources have it that President Akufo-Addo has invited former Chief Justice, Sophia Akufo, for an urgent meeting. Don’t ask me why, your guess is as good as mine!” he said.

A former chief justice, Sophia Akuffo, has publicly defended her decision to challenge the inclusion of retirees in the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP).

She joined a demonstration held by retirees on February 10 in front of Accra’s Ministry of Finance.

When venting to reporters in Accra, she stated,

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 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 said.

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 sorts 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.

Since Monday, February 6th, the pensioners have been protesting in front of the Ministry demanding exemption from the Programme.

After another extension from Tuesday, February 7th, the Ministry has set Friday as the final day for voluntary subscribers to join the Programme.

Source – Tru News Report

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