Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, has returned fire to New Patriotic Party stalwart Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko over his criticism of her decision to join demonstrators at the Ministry of Finance over the domestic debt exchange programme.
According to her “He (Gabby) doesn’t decide for me what I need to do and what I don’t need to do, I don’t have time for things like that. People like that are not important to me or my life, and he is a disturbance, that is all that I need to say to that”.
Mr. Otchere-Darko on Sunday criticized Justice Sophia Akuffo for joining pensioner bondholders to picket to demand the total exclusion of their funds from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
In a tweet, Mr. Otchere-Darko’s said “Why picket over an offer that you have the liberty not to accept?“ She erred big time in her basic appreciation of the issues.”
According to Mr. Gabby, while he sympathizes with those picketing, he finds it difficult to understand why they are asking “to be exempted from an improved offer programme which is voluntary.”
But in a response, Ms Akuffo who returned on Tuesday to join the picketers speaking to Citi Fm described Mr. Otchere-Darko as a “disturbance” and further added that his views are not important to her.
The former Chief Justice first joined the bondholders on Friday leading to varied reactions among Ghanaians and NPP stalwarts.
She threatened to sue the government if their pension funds are included in the debt exchange programe.
Sophia Akuffo served as the Chief Justice under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo between 2017 and 2019.
Government Response
Meanwhile, the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has assured all individual bondholders who did not participate in the just-ended Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) that government will honor their coupon payments and maturing principles.
According to him, “the Government would like to reassure all individual bondholders who elected not to participate that your coupon payments and maturing principals, like all Government bondholders honored in line with Government fiscal commitments”.
The DDEP according to the finance minister “is being done to help protect the economy and enhance [the country’s] capacity to service [its] 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 Minister said in a statement.
The government in the statement thanked the people of Ghana for their “forbearance and support throughout these very difficult times”.
It also assured bondholders who did not sign up for the program that it will honor its financial obligations to them.
“We would like to stress that, all Individual bondholders, especially our Senior Citizens, should rest assured that their coupon payments and maturing principals, like all Government bonds, will be honored in line with Government’s Fiscal commitments.”
The government has proposed a 15% coupon rate, but the retirees have stated that they will not accept any haircuts on their investments as their livelihoods depend on the proceeds from these investments.
-BY Daniel Bampoe