DDEP picket: Sophia Akuffo was just showing empathy- Ade Coker

A former Greater Accra Chairman for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Joseph Ade Coker, says the former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, was just showing empathy by joining her colleague pensioners to picket over the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

Due to that, he said sympathizers of the NPP government should stop describing her act as propaganda.

The comment comes after the brouhaha over the former Chief Justice’s role in some retirees’ picketing.

The Former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo on Friday, February 10, 2023 joined fellow pensioners to picket at the Ministry of Finance to protest inclusion in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

The pensioners have been asking the government to totally exempt them from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

Since last Monday, the retirees have gone picketing at the Ministry to make their demands known to government.

According to them, they will not stop until they hear something positive from the government.

On the fifth day, Sophia Akuffo was seen sitting at the ministry with a placard with the inscription, “We use our bond yields to pay our rents, medical bills, electricity bills, and water bills.”

Since her involvement in the exercise, the Former Chief Justice has come under attacks by some NPP followers.

Speaking on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie with Ama Gyenfa Ofosu Darkwa, Ade Coker said, “She said she was showing empathy. Some of them are her friends she worked with for about 30 years and she saw them picketing. She can claim to be okay, but she is showing empathy.”

He continued that, “With where Ken Ofori Atta, Bawumia and President Akufo-Addo have brought us, people are suffering. I know people who invested their gratuity in bonds, now you said you will pay them in 2027, 2030, someone who is 70, 75 or 80, what are you expecting? The money they will use to buy medicine? You have not offered free medical care for them. They said they use the money to buy medicines for their BP, they use it for dialysis and the health insurance does not cover it. So please, nobody should say anywhere that it is propaganda.

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