Sophia Akuffo: Gabby’s European training affecting his Ghanaian values – Lecturer

A political science lecturer at the University of Cape Coast in the Central Region has minced no words to say the European training of the cousin of the president and founder of the policy think tank Danquah Institute (DI) is fast affecting his Ghanaian values.

According to the lecturer, in Ghana, "we don’t speak ill of older women irrespective of their status in the society."

Mr Jonathan Asante Okyere explained that the training Mr Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko had in Europe is making it difficult for him to accept Ghanaian values.

He said Mr Otchere-Darko is not alone in that cultural conflict but the president himself as well as his executive secretary, Nana Asante Beduato, have the same challenge.

He cited when President Nana Akufo-Addo made unwelcomed comments in response to a chief in the Volta Region complaining about how an E-block built by the previous government in his area had been abandoned by the current government.

"This buttresses the point that the training of these men does not agree with Ghanaian values," Mr Asante Okyere said.

He stressed that Gabby’s training in Europe has shrouded his Ghanaian values when it comes to addressing the elderly in the country.

Mr Asante Okyere assigned this reason for the behaviour of Mr Gabby Otchere-Darko while reacting to the brouhaha that has reared its ugly head between Mr Otchere-Darko and the former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo on the evening news on Accra 100.5 FM on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.

Ms Akuffo returned fire to Mr 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 criticised Justice Sophia Akuffo for joining pensioner bondholders to picket to demand the total exclusion of their funds from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

In a tweet, Mr Otchere-Darko said, “Why to 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 Gabby, while he sympathises 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 described Mr Otchere-Darko as a “disturbance” and further added that his views are not important to her.

She threatened to sue the government if their pension funds are included in the DDEP