The story of a news item, and how a friend prompted Sophia Akuffo’s decision to picket over DDEP

In 2023, one of the biggest business-political issues happened when a former Chief Justice of Ghana, Sophia Akuffo, made history by becoming the first of 'her kind' to join a public protest organised by the citizenry, against, most especially, her own ‘government.’

This was during the period when some pensioner government bondholders picketed at the Ministry of Finance for a number of days, in protest to the decision of the government to include their bonds in a Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP).

But when the former CJ, Sophia Akuffo, joined the pensioners on Friday, February 10, 2023, to picket, it shot national interest and discussions around the DDEP even higher.

Almost a year after the unprecedented ‘showdown’, Sophia Akuffo has explained exactly what her motivation was and why she had no choice than to join in the picket.

She explained, in an interview with Bridget Otoo of Metro TV, that there was a news item that she watched two days prior, and a lunch meeting the previous day that fully convinced her that she needed to be part of the picket.

The following text is a transcription of what her answer was on the question about why she decided to join in the picketing:

“Well, I think it was rather the previous day, but the day before that previous day, I happened to be watching the news and then I saw my age group and older with placards. And, by that, I was already a bit concerned as to what the bond exchange was going to amount to…

“… we had been assured that older people were not even involved, and for that matter, pensioners and even pension funds, as at that time, and individuals who were over a certain age, were not going to be included. So, when I saw these people, I was a bit concerned.

“But the next day, I happened to go to a lunch where the matter came up and we were talking about it and I said jokingly I even thought I said this friend of mine among the protesters and was it her? And then it also happened that she is also a niece of the person sitting next to me, and he said, ‘Yes, it was her,’ and I said why should she be included. And then that was when I really found out that it had been announced that pensioners – individual pensioned bondholders were also included.

“And my concern was not so much about myself, because really, I didn’t have much invested in the government bonds, but I know I had some government bonds as well… I phoned this friend of mine and I said, ‘I saw you and your uncle said it was you,’ and she said yes. And I said, ‘Is everything ok now?’ she said ‘no.’ ‘Are you doing it tomorrow?’ she said, ‘Yes,’ and I said, ‘I’ll come and join you,’” she explained.

Background:

The government in an effort to meet requirements to secure the IMF loan, introduced a debt restructuring programme.

The DDEP programme which aims to tackle government debt on the local front, sought to vary the terms of existing bonds.

The ministry at the commencement of the programme announced a target of 80% or more of bondholders.

The exercise, however, attracted resistance from several bondholders including some pensioners who took to picketing at the premises of the ministry demanding total exemption from the programme.

AE