DDEP: Coach Opeele defends underfire Bawumia, jabs Ken Ofori-Atta

Former Kumasi Asante Kotoko coach, Isaac Opeele Boateng has come to the defense of Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia for supervising an ailing economy, thereby requiring an intervention from the International Monetary Fund.

Opeele holds that the decision by the government to, as part of meeting the conditionalities for the IMF bailout include pensioner bondholders in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme is the sole decision of the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Opeele argues that Bawumia cannot be roped into the criticism as he had no hand in the decision to include the pensioner bondholders.

“The finance ministry has caused all this mess for pensioners. This can never happen under a full Dr Bawumia-led government. Only judge Dr Bawumia as the leader not a part of a government whose finance minister won't resign for his own reasons,” he said.

The Pensioner Bondholders Forum have been picketing at the Finance Ministry since Monday, February 6, 2023, to compel the government from exempting them Debt Exchange Program.

On Friday, February 10, 2023, Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Sophia Akuffo joined the pensioners to picket at the Finance Ministry.

Speaking at the forefront of the Ministry of Finance in Accra, where some pensioners have been picketing since Monday, February 6, 2023, she said the last thing the Akufo-Addo government should have been done was to think of touching pension funds.

“I find this wicked; I find it disrespectful; I find it unlawful; I find it totally wrong. Period. Because you don’t solve your problems by sacrificing your aged. That’s the last thing you should do especially when we don’t have any services that are specially geared at the comfort and the relief of the aged,” she said.

The finance ministry has caused all these mess for pensioners.

This can never happen under a full Dr Bawumia led government.

Only judge Dr Bawumia as the leader not a part of a government whose finance minister won't resign for his own reasons pic.twitter.com/XWTxexDyOp

— Isaac 'Opeele' Boateng (@CoachOpeele) February 8, 2023