Her Ladyship Justice Sophia Akuffo, the former Chief Justice of Ghana, expressed her worries in a recent interview over the government’s announcement of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), drawing disquieting comparisons to the country’s previous regimes.
Sophia Akuffo expressed her unease, asserting that the government’s move seemed to indicate a willingness to make significant changes without proper understanding or obtaining consent from relevant stakeholders. She emphasized that such practices should not be tolerated in the Fourth Republic.
In her critique, Akuffo highlighted the impropriety of altering agreements without consultation, stating, “You contracted me, that in return for buying your bonds, these are what I am expecting. Now you want to change my expectations for whatever reasons, and you don’t do that by decree.” She likened this approach to the days of waking up to sudden changes enforced by decree during military rule.
Drawing historical parallels, she remarked, “All of a sudden, no more 50 cedi notes or all of a sudden from Saturday there is a new currency but the new currency is not in circulation yet. But Saturday, Monday what you have is no longer money, decree. What kind of life is that?”
Akuffo went on to express her strong resistance to such unilateral changes, stating, “I don’t want any new arrangement with you (government). If I had to do the picketing again, I would. I don’t care what I did, did I do anything wrong?”
Expressing dismay at the sight of pensioners picketing, she emphasized her concern for retired individuals being forced into such actions due to what she perceived as a breach of the law by the government. In her words, “I was upset that retired persons will reach such a sorry state, that pensioners have to do that because somebody is insisting on breaching the law as far as I am concerned.”