Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo says the integrity of government bonds must never be compromised, warning that trust in Ghana’s debt instruments was shaken by the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, she defended her decision to join pensioners picketing at the Finance Ministry in February 2023 over the DDEP.

“First and foremost, I wasn’t there in that boardroom when that decision was made to give people haircuts, whether they liked it or not,” she said.

“But even if I had been, and I had disagreed, and despite my strenuous position, it went ahead to the extent that 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.”

She was firm about her stance.

“So it’s something which I always say, if I had to do it again, I would do it.”

Her presence on the picket line surprised many. For some, it was a defining moment. A former Chief Justice standing with pensioners who depended on bond yields for survival.

She explained that her decision was rooted in principle.

“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.”

She recounted how she joined the protest.

“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. And I said, Okay, are you going again? And she said, Yes. I said, Can I join? And so I went.”

Beyond the protest, she raised deeper concerns about the long-term consequences of the debt exchange.

“It is also to debase the repute of the Ghana government, not I’m not talking about any particular political party, but I’m talking about Ghana government investment.”

For her, the issue transcends partisanship. It undermines the state's credibility.

“What does bond mean? Your word is your bond, it used to be this was a bond, a government bond that was issued on written terms, and if you cannot rely on the government’s word the bond, even when you’ve signed, what else can you rely on?”

She warned that rebuilding confidence will not be easy. “So now that they want to issue cocoa bonds, I’ve already heard people wondering.”

She pointed to what she described as the lingering doubt.

“The elephant in the room that everybody will pretend is not there is going to be, how many people will really opt to go take this bond after that bad experience?”