Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko may have never been appointed to any political office, but too many Ghanaians know well that he is not without a very influential personality.

That has been the case with the man unofficially referred to as Ghana’s de-facto prime minister.

In the last week, he has courted the backlash and anger of politicians of high repute.

And it all started after the leading member of the NPP, who is also a cousin of the sitting president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, decided to make light of the issues raised by the immediate-past Chief Justice of Ghana, Sophia Akuffo, when she joined her fellow retirees to picket the Ministry of Finance.

In protest of the government's intention to include them in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), the former CJ joined some pensioner individual bondholders at the ministry in solidarity.

The DDEP, although described by the government as a voluntary thing, is expected to affect the bonds of individuals, including pensioners.

While with them, Sophia Akuffo called out the Nana Akufo-Addo government, telling them that it was illegal to want to sacrifice the pensions of their senior citizens so that it could solve its economic mess.

She also threatened to sue the government should her bonds be included.

Although she was appointed by the sitting president as the CJ, Sophia Akuffo stressed that she can no longer be gagged from speaking the truth about things that are affecting Ghanaians.

In response to the former CJ’s comments, which went viral on Friday, February 10, 2023, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko took to Twitter to write some things as to why he was disappointed in her.

Among others, Gabby said Sophia erred, adding that she should have simply exempted herself from the DDEP without joining such a picket.

His comments have, however, not been taken lightly by a number of people.

Sam George slams Gabby:

Sam Nartey George, the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, described the recent events involving Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and Sophia Akuffo as a ‘family fight.’

He then went on to defend Sophia Akuffo, whiles slamming Gabby for exhibiting arrogance in his reaction to the incident.

“Under normal circumstances we would have said this ‘ebusua ntɔkwa‘ (family feud), but we can’t leave them because what they’re fighting over is public welfare, public funds, public monies that have been mismanaged.

“And the arrogance with which Gabby is shouting down the Chief Justice who’s raising critical issues about mismanagement of our economy gets me worried,” he said during a program on TV3.

It is Gabby rather who has goofed big time – Ato Forson salutes Sophia Akuffo:

The Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, also hit back at Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, following his critique of former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo.

Reacting to this, Ato Forson, who is also Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Essiam, defended the former CJ, while pointing out that Gabby rather goofed with his reaction.

“It is Gabby rather who has goofed big time. As for me, the former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo has won my respect forever. Because for a country to develop, you need the right people to speak up at the right time.

“She has proven to be one person who has stood up for the country in these difficult times. This is a relative of President Akufo-Addo, she was appointed by him as a head of an arm of government.

“Someone who found it prudent to talk because Ghana was heading for destruction and she stood up and spoke. So what Gabby is doing, he should stop it,” Ato Forson said on Accra-based Power FM’s morning show on February 13, 2023.

Gabby cannot tell me what to do, he is not important - Sophia Akuffo fires:

Being the main target of the attacks, the retired CJ replied that Gabby Asare-Otchere Darko is not important to her and such, he cannot tell her what to do or not.

She also indicated that whether he calls her paranoid or not, she would not be stopped.

“He [Gabby] cannot tell me what I need to do and what I do not need to do and it's as simple as that… You know I don’t have time for things like that because people like Gabby are not important to me or to my life, he is a disturbance and that’s all I can say about it,” she told journalists when she joined pensioner bondholder to picket again at the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.



AE/BOG