When the Chief Executive of the Human Development (HuD) Group, Dr Yaw Perbi, met the Finance Minister some years ago, he regarded him as a mentor and an uncle.

For Dr Perbi, Ken Ofori-Atta was a scholar in his own right when it came to anything finance and economics.

And as a young medical doctor who spearheaded an initiative to get many health practitioners to cultivate a culture of investment, he looked up to the Data Bank Co-founder for financial nuggets.

It is for this reason that Dr Perbi says he cannot comprehend why the country is experiencing economic crisis with his mentor at the helm of the financial affairs.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, the CEO said he would not have been extremely perplexed if the economic ship had sunk under the watch of anyone else.

“And that is why I call him Uncle Ken. So for me, what is happening right now, I’m having cognitive dissonance.

I cannot marry the Uncle Ken I know, to what is happening right now. The irony is that this should happen under anybody but not under Uncle Ken’s watch,” he said on Monday.

While describing the situation as strange, Dr Perbi said he still regards Mr Ofori-Atta as his mentor and will attempt to process the current nosedive the economy is facing.

“He [Finance Minister] has asked me to come home. Last week I tried so hard to do that, but it is a very difficult time, you know, with the emergency meetings and so it is hard to pin a time down and honour it.

“But I will not give up, because I am trying so hard to understand this,” he told host Winston Amoah.

The financial advisor subsequently got emotional when addressing the ongoing Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

https://youtu.be/mb0KPp6qoGs

While recollecting the sacrifices he and his colleagues had to make to accumulate the principal to buy bonds, Dr Perbi could not help but break into tears.

“We sacrificed student loans, some entertainment amongst others. And now, those of us who were just blowing their money are laughing at us. They’ll be saying ‘you should have chopped the money.’

Although hurt by the ongoing debt exchange, Dr Perbi encouraged his colleagues not to regret their decision to invest.

https://www.myjoyonline.com/medical-doctor-gets-emotional-on-joy-fm-over-debt-exchange/

“Part of the reason I came here was to let the several tens and thousands people who have invested to know that this is not a Ponzi Scheme. They did the right thing.

“I am trying to convince myself that I did the right thing, I did not leave them to go and throw themselves over a cliff. We did the right thing, but our leaders have not done the right thing by us and they need to be called out on it,” he stated.

Since government launched DDEP in December 2022, various interest groups including labour and individual bondholders have lamented about the impact of the programme.

As some indicate that their source of income would be curtailed, others have questioned the sacrifices government will make amidst this economic crisis.