Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo says she has no regrets over joining pensioners who picketed the Finance Ministry in 2023 over the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

“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 said on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday.

Her presence on the picket line on February 10, 2023, stunned many.

The former head of the judiciary was seen holding a placard that read: “We use our bond yields to pay our rent, medical bills, electricity bills and water bills.”

She had joined retirees demanding a total exemption from the controversial Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) for their investments.

Asked by host George Wiafe what influenced her decision, Sophia Akuffo made it clear she was not part of the decision-making process.

“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.”

But she said even if she had been present and had objected, her position would not have changed.

“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.”

Sophia Akuffo insisted it was a matter of principle.

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

For many observers, her action was a defining moment. It broke with expectations that a former Chief Justice would remain confined to advisory roles behind closed doors.

She traced her stance to her upbringing and legal training.

“I will say that maybe it’s my home upbringing, or how I understood my legal education.”

Then she delivered the line that now frames her decision.

“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.”

Sophia Akuffo explained how she ended up on the protest line. It began with a chance sighting.

“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.”

Her next move was simple.

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

For her, silence in the face of what she considers unlawful is not an option.