Former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo has described as “wicked” and “disrespectful” government’s decision to include pensioners in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

Speaking to journalists after she joined pensioners to picket at the Ministry of Finance in Accra on Friday, February 10, she said: “We are over 70 years now, I am no longer government employed, my mouth has been unguarded 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.”

According to her, “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…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 force them to agree with you that the repayment of the yield of their investment should be as you dictate it. Why?”

“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” she added.

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