The immediate-past Chief Justice of Ghana, Sophia Akuffo, has called on Ghanaians to reject any haircuts being advanced by the government on their monies.
She explained that it is clear that the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo isn’t showing leadership in this regard, as it has failed to clearly state which other expenditures it is cutting down on first.
She further wondered why the government will want to cut the 'little hair' left on the heads of people as vulnerable as retirees, just so that it can fix its economic mess.
“… they cut expenditure on waste; they have not even come to prove to us where they’ve identified wastage and what is being done about it. You and I, you walk around and you see a lot of waste all along, and you don’t want to do anything and you want me to take a haircut?
“I don’t know, but with the little bit of hair left on my head, I’m not going to take a haircut and I’m not encouraging any Ghanaian to take a haircut,” she said.
The former Chief Justice made this known when she joined some pensioners at the Ministry of Finance, where the retirees have been picketing since Monday, February 6, 2023, over the government’s decision to include bonds in its Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
The bonds, some of which are owned by a lot of pensioners, has been vehemently opposed, but the government has not shown any intention of exempting the bonds of pensioners in the DDEP.
But speaking further, Sophia Akuffo said that if all of these is a matter of patriotism, then the government needs to understand that pensioners, they have already given all for the country in that regard.
“Patriotism is on various levels and I think most of us have already chalked ninety-nine percent of patriotism at this time in our lives,” she stressed.
AE/BOG