Professor of Finance and Economics at the University of Ghana Business School, Godfred Bokpin has criticised the government’s approach to achieving the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
According to him, the government could have restructured the debt without causing much unrest in the country as it did.
“There is demonstrable evidence that with a certain level of expenditure cut and willfulness, governance reform we could actually come out of this. We can actually come out of this better and much stronger than the approach government has adopted,” he said
Speaking on Joy FM’s News night on Tuesday, Professor Bokpin said since the government has been able to achieve 80% debt restructuring it was unnecessary to continue to allow pensioners to continue to insist on exemption when the government had the power to do so.
Professor Bokpin explained that pensioners, in their youthful age had contributed greatly to the growth of the country and must not be subjected to mistreatment by the government.
His comments come in the wake of the ongoing picketing exercise by pensioners at the Finance Ministry to demand exemption from the debt restructuring programme.
Professor Bokpin said “this is no governance to see pensioners continue to press for them to be exempted,” he told host Evans Mensah.
He added that how the government was treating pensioners, created a bit of fear in the minds of people about pensions.
“What country is this? Can we look forward to a pension? It’s scary for all that these people have done for this country, I am sorry. We should not take them through that,” he said.
The Professor of Finance advised the government to fix the unrest in the market.
“I expect the government to clarify and calm the market. We need to calm the market and build forward better inclusively, that should be our goal now,” he said.
Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo has added her voice to demand total exemption from the restructuring programme for pensioners.
Many stakeholders have lauded her for throwing her weight behind the pensioners.
However, the president’s cousin Gabby Otchere-Darko has criticised her move as misplaced.
“For a former CJ to take up a noble cause such as she did but at a such late hour when all was done and for all that publicity, she owed it to herself and her social standing to have understood the issues far better than what she exhibited last Friday. She is bigger than that.”
Subsequently, Justice Akuffo said, Mr Otchere-Darko can call her paranoid regarding the DDEP but she cares less.
“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 hard. Not easy service, when you’re not a member of the government and you’re calling yourself a member of the government,” she told JoyNews.
