Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo has insisted that the Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta should exempt pensioners from the domestic debt exchange programme.

She said it is becoming suspicious why the Finance Minster is refusing to address the concerns of pensioners but he is responding to letters from other groups that have issues as well.

Speaking to journalists in Accra after joining pensioners again to picket at the Ministry of Finance to protest their inclusion in the programme, on Tuesday, February 14, she said that Mr Ofori-Atta has not responded to a letter written to him by the pensioners.

“A simple letter that was written by the association to the Minister of Finance that exempt us from your programme. That is the gist, I always like to distil things to their lowest common denominator, exempt us, we are pensioners. Up till now, I have seen a copy of the letter, it has been dated 7th January.

“Up till now, there has not been a note of acknowledgement and just a few days similar letters that were written to the Minister have been responded to whereby he has categorically exempted other groups. Why? When I cannot fathom the reasons for something being done in a particular way especially when it has been done for others but it is not being done for others I start getting suspicious, I have grown to the age where I have seen it all.”

Ms Sophia Akuffo first joined the group of pensioners to picket at the Finance Ministry on Friday, February 10 against their inclusion in the debt exchange.

Speaking to journalists she said “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 they have put everything into government bonds, it is a contract and now all of a sudden, you virtually want to, at gunpoint, force them to agree with you that the repayment of the yield of their investment should be as you dictate it. Why?”

She further criticized the government for not being able to account for the borrowings done over the years.

“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 sort 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 pensioners have been picketing at the Ministry since Monday, February 6 to be exempted from the Programme.

“The Government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) closed on Friday 10th February 2023 with over 80% participation of eligible bonds,” a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, February 14 said.

“The Government wants to thank the people of Ghana for their forbearance and support throughout these very difficult times.”

It said by the participation of the voluntary bondholders after the closure of the Programme on Friday, the country has inched closer towards securing the $3billion extended credit facility (ECF) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The DDEP is being done to help protect the economy and enhance our capacity to service our public debts effectively.

“The alternative of not executing the DDEP would have brought grave disorder in the servicing of our national debt and exacerbated the current economic crisis.

“The Government is, therefore, grateful for the overwhelming participation of all bondholders.

“Your support and contribution has gotten your country much closer to securing the IMF programme.”

It asked individual bondholders, particularly pensioners, who did not participate in the Programme, to be rest assured that their coupon payments and maturing principals will be honoured in line with laid-down rules.

Source:Fiilafmonline/3News