Former Chief Justice Her Ladyship Justice Sophia Akuffo has likened the government’s announcement of the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) to the era of military regimes. Speaking in an interview with Starr FM on Thursday, November 9, she expressed her concern, stating that the government sought to make changes without proper understanding or consent.
In her estimation, that was improper and should not be countenanced in the Fourth Republic. “You contracted me, that in return for buying your bonds, these are what I am expecting. Now you want to change my expectations for whatever reasons, and you don’t do that by decree. It was more like the days where you wake up in the morning and by decree, something has happened in Ghana,” Madam Akuffo remarked.
She went on to draw parallels to the past, saying, “All of a sudden, no more 50 cedi notes or all of a sudden from Saturday there is a new currency but the new currency is not in circulation yet. But Saturday, Monday what you have is no longer money, decree. What kind of life is that?” Madam Akuffo emphasized her resistance to such changes, stating, “I don’t want any new arrangement with you (government). If I had to do the picketing again, I would. I don’t care what I did, did I do anything wrong?”
Expressing her dismay at the sight of pensioners picketing, she noted, “I was upset that retired persons will reach such a sorry state, that pensioners have to do that because somebody is insisting on breaching the law as far as I am concerned.”
By: Ernest K. Arhinful
