The Former Chief Justice, Sophia Abena Boafoa Akuffo, has stated that she has no regrets about joining pensioners to picket at the Ministry of Finance during the controversial Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) in 2023.
Speaking on the matter, she insisted that she would repeat the same action if faced with a similar situation, stressing that she believed it was in the public interest to speak out.
“I think it’s wrong and that it’s in the interest of the public to know that it’s wrong. Yes, I would have come out and done it, so it’s something which I always say, if I had to do it again, I would do it.”
The former Chief Justice explained that her decision was rooted in her upbringing and legal training, which, according to her, does not permit silence in the face of perceived injustice.
“I will say that maybe it’s my home upbringing, or how I understood my legal education. You don’t sit there and just let unlawful things be done, and if you feel strongly about it and there’s no one to listen to you, you shout it out.”
Recounting how she joined the protest, she disclosed that she noticed a group of pensioners picketing and recognized someone she knew among them. After confirming their participation, she asked to join the demonstration.
“Fortunately, I saw that there were some people picketing, and I saw somebody I knew on that picket line. Phoned her and said,Was it you I saw? She said, yes.
“I said, okay, are you going again? And she said, yes. I said,Can I join? And so I went. If I had to do it again, I would do it.”
Her participation in the 2023 picketing attracted significant public attention at the time, as the Domestic Debt Exchange Program formed part of government’s broader economic restructuring efforts, which drew strong opposition from sections of pensioners who feared the impact on their investments and livelihoods.
The DDEP remains one of the most debated economic interventions in recent years, with critics and supporters continuing to assess its long-term impact on the country’s financial stability and public confidence.
