Members of the Pensioner Bondholders Forum on Monday, February 13, 2023, continued picketing at the Ministry of Finance demanding total exclusion from the government’s ongoing Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
Á video from Monday’s picketing shared by UTV shows the pensioners singing Osibisa’s emotional “Woyaya.”

Unlike their feisty mood during the early days of their protest, the pensioners on Monday sang the song in sombre mood as they have done through the last week.

“We are going. Heaven knows where we are going. We know we're there. We are going. Heaven knows where we are going. We know we're there.

"We will get there. Heaven knows how we will get there. We know we will.

"It will be hard we know. And the road will be muddy and rough. But we'll get there, heaven knows how we will get there. We know we will.”

Last week, the protest by the pensioners against the government received a major boost when a former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo joined them at the ministry to drum home their demands.

Speaking to the media on Friday, he described the government's move to include pensioners in the debt exchange programme as wicked, disrespectful, and unlawful and threatened to sue the government if need be, if it goes ahead with it.

According to her, it is wrong for the government, through the Ministry of Finance, to sacrifice pensioners' hard-earned monies to save the government after serving the nation for decades.

While bemoaning the negative impact of the debt exchange programme on pensioners in an interview with GhanaWeb Business, Sophia Akuffo stressed that it was heartbreaking to see her age mates and others older than her go through pain.

"It is very heart-breaking to see people, particularly in my age group, some are older than me, some are somewhat younger than me, but these are all people who have worked very hard. They could have left the country when others were going. They stayed, they worked for the nation.

"I find this wicked, disrespectful, I find it unlawful. I find it totally wrong, period because you don’t solve your problems by sacrificing your aged. That’s the last thing you should do especially when you don't have any services that are actually geared at the comfort and relief of the aged," she said.

Meanwhile, members of the Pensioner Bondholders Forum are expected to be in parliament on Tuesday to continue with their protest.





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