Former Chief Justice Joins Bondholders’ Protest: Sophia Akuffo’s Among Hundreds Picketing At Finance Ministry

• Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo has joined tens of pensioner bondholders who have picketed at the finance ministry to demand their exclusion from the controversial domestic debt exchange programme
• The retired Chief Justice held a placard that read "we use our bond yields to pay our rents..." during the protest on Friday, February 10, 2023
• The unprecedented sighting of a former Chief Justice among protesters demonstrates that key stakeholders are against the domestic debt exchange programme

Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo has joined the ongoing protests by pensioner bondholders at the finance ministry.

On Friday, February 10, 2023, the retired legal luminary was sighted among pensioner bondholders who have been picketing at the finance ministry all week.

The placard she held reads as follows:

"We use our bond yields to pay our rents, medical bills, electricity bills, water bills."

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Pensioner bondholders in Ghana have organised themselves as the "Pensioner Bondholders Forum" and have been picketing at the forecourt of the finance ministry since Monday, February 6, 2023, to demand a total exemption of their investments from the much-criticised Domestic Debt Exchange programme.

Under the programme, finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta has proposed a 15% coupon rate, but the group of about 50 retirees say they will not accept any haircuts on their investments.

They have explained that their livelihoods depend on bond yields.

Due to agitations by some domestic bondholders, the finance ministry has been compelled to shift the window for bondholders to complete the tender process many times.

The latest deadline is Friday, February 10, 2023. The last deadline was January 31, 2023.

NPP MPs revive campaign to get Ofori-Atta fired

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Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh has reported in a separate story that the campaign to get finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta sacked has been revived by the 98 NPP MPs who stalled the process last year.

One of the leaders of the "rebel" MPs, Andy Appiah-Kubi, has said the conditions president Nana Akufo-Addo set before sacking the minister have been met.

Andy Appiah-Kubi and his colleague lawmakers from the governing party believe the finance minister has been incompetent.

Source: YEN.com.gh