Debt Exchange: Opposition should also speak about alternative views

The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) should also provide alternative views to help in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), a Professor at the University of Ghana Ransofrd Gyampo has said.

Prof Gyampo said this on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday February 11 while contributing to a discussion on the picketing by pensioners against their inclusion.

“Let the opposition also speak about alternative views that can be exploited to help in the debt exchange programme,” he said.

He also asked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to intervene and deal with the situation after describing the inclusion of pensioners as insensitive.

“I believe that the president should demonstrate a level of sensitivity. It is heartbreaking to see pensioners picketing at ministries. I was expecting that the president will demonstrate some sensitivity by intervening in this matter. You can’t treat people who have paid their dues like that” Prof Gyampo said.

Scores of Ghanaians including pensioners have rejected their inclusion in the debt exchange.

For instance, Former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo joined a group of pensioners to picket at the Ministry of Finance in Accra on Friday, February 10.

Speaking to journalists she said “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.

“We have had our ups and downs. A lot of us were from generations where we were encouraged to save for tomorrow and all that. We have been through times where all your savings become nonsense because of some government policies, then over the years, bit by bit, people have become more confident in the economy and investments.

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

She further criticized the government for not being able to account for the borrowings done over the years.

“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 sorts of things too many times.

“I am over 70 years now, I am no longer government employed, my mouth has been ungagged 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.

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

Source: 3news.com