If pensioner funds are included in the Domestic Debt Exchange Program, former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo has threatened to sue the government.
The former Chief Justice spoke with reporters after she joined a group of pensioners to picket at the Finance Ministry on Friday, February 10.
Madam Sophia Akuffo criticised the government’s decision as being callous, wicked, and simply rude.
“The Minister of Finance should better go back to the drawing board and come up with a better proposal otherwise nobody is going to agree to it. I am encouraging people not to agree with it. A contract is a contract, and it must be respected and if you want to renegotiate, come to the table with humility and come with ‘yesable’ proposal,” the former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo 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 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?”
The former Chief Justice called on the government to be transparent and account to Ghanaians what has led to the current economic crisis and what all the loans were used for.
“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.”
The government has suggested a coupon rate of 15%, but the group has said it will not accept any investment reductions.
The group claims that because its members’ livelihoods depend on the revenues, it will not take haircuts on investments.
Some group members have said they purchase their medications and other supplies, much like the former Chief Justice.
“We have earned complete exemption, and we deserve it.
The pensioner bond holders said on Day 4 of their picketing on Thursday, 9 February, “Total exemption.”
By: Bernard Ralph Adams | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
