Sophia Akuffo’s ‘wild’ statements that have got tongues wagging

Since she joined pensioner bondholders on Friday, February 10, 2023, to picket at the Ministry of Finance forecourt in demand that government totally exempts their investments from the Domestic Debt Exchange programme, former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo has not been left out of the blogs and in the news.

Her decision to support the group has surprisingly—or not—attracted comments some would call vicious attacks; particularly, from notable political heads like Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, who is a leading member of the New Patriotic Party.

It has been five days since Mr. Otchere-Darko made his first comment— a tweet suggesting that Justice Sophia Akuffo erred in her actions when she joined the pensioners bondholders at the Ministry of Finance.

Justice Sophia Akuffo has also not hesitated to react to the comments. She has not only reacted to the comments but also made clear her issues with the inclusion of pensioners in the DDEP.

These are some of the major points Sophia Akuffo has made about issues regarding the DDEP since she joined pensioners to picket at the finance ministry:

Sophia ‘served’ Ofori-Atta with these statements:

Why are we in the mess we are in, nobody has fully explained it to us, yes debts, we took debts, what was it used for? Where is the accountability? You are not telling us about how you are going to make things better but just ‘help me and I’ll help you’ no, you help yourself first.

I find it wicked, I find it disrespectful, I find it unlawful, I find it totally wrong period. Because you don’t solve your problems by sacrificing the aged, that’s the last thing you should do especially when you don’t have any services that are particularly geared at the comfort and relief of the aged.

The minister of finance had better go back to the drawing table and come back with a better proposal

A contract is a contract and has to be respected and if you want to renegotiate it, come to the table with humility, and come with a yesable proposition, not ‘take it or leave it’.

I remember when Ken Ofori-Atta was first appointed, I remember a statement he made that he sees the responsibility as minister of finance to protect the public purse. If you haven’t protected the public purse, why should it be us?

Sophia replies Gabby:

Gabby Otchere-Darko can call me paranoid, I don't care. We are talking about people, we are talking about human beings, we are talking about people who have served this country, and have served well and have served hard, not easy service.

Other comments

In a news report published on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, by Graphic Online, when a journalist asked her why she was still joining the protest even though government had said maturing coupons would be paid, Justice Akuffo is quoted as responding, "paper talks, paper talks, empty talks fly with the wind." She added, "So we are waiting when they become due we shall see, it will be better that for all of us and for people who have served the nation."

Asked how she felt about attacks by detractors calling her out for joining the picket, Sophia Akuffo has said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but blah blah will not hurt me,” she told journalists before adding that she would not trade insults with such people, “Insults? Insults is the weapon of the pin brained. I am not going to trade words with pin-brains, I am sorry,” she stressed.

Taking aim at the Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta for not responding to an official request for exemption by pensioners, the former CJ said it was a sign of pride on the part of the minister, “Apart from pride, what else is stopping him from the issuance of a response to the letter?” she asked.

She said pensioners will therefore wait for when next their bond payments are due to see what line government takes: “So, we are waiting when they become due, we shall see, but it would be better that for all of us and for the nation too, that he responds to the letter that has been sent to him.

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PI/WA