{"id":99723,"date":"2025-10-22T07:38:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T07:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=99723"},"modified":"2025-10-22T07:38:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T07:38:54","slug":"debt-restructuring-apology-came-too-late-dr-asah-asante-tells-akufo-addo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=99723","title":{"rendered":"Debt restructuring apology came too late \u2014 Dr. Asah Asante tells Akufo-Addo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 42 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Political scientist Dr Asah Asante has criticised former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over his recent apology to Ghanaians for the pain caused by the government\u2019s domestic debt restructuring programme, describing it as \u201ctoo little, too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking on the AM Show,<\/em> Dr Asante said the policy severely disrupted the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Ghanaians, particularly the middle class, pensioners, and other vulnerable groups, and that an apology at this stage does not reverse the damage done.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr President, your policy shattered our lives. And up to date, we have not been able to put them together,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you have shattered our lives and our livelihoods, you can\u2019t bring it back. So I am right in saying that it\u2019s too late to say you are sorry after you\u2019ve shattered our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Asante was reacting to comments made by the former President during a public engagement, where he acknowledged that the domestic debt exchange programme marked \u201cone of the darkest moments\u201d of his administration and apologised to affected groups.<\/p>\n

The political scientist argued that proper consultation and consideration of dissenting views could have prevented the policy from causing such widespread hardship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you introduce a policy, you weigh its effects before you come with it full hog. Some of your lieutenants were saying we either take it or leave it. We saw people on the street who were sick and complaining. We saw pensioners protesting. It fell on deaf ears,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s debt restructuring programme, introduced under the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2023, was part of a broader effort to secure an IMF bailout and stabilise the economy. However, the move led to significant losses for bondholders and triggered protests from pensioners, labour groups, and financial sector players.<\/p>\n

Dr Asante questioned why the former President would apologise now if the policy were believed to be sound at the time of implementation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy apology? If you knew the policy was a good one, why apology?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"debt\"Political scientist Dr Asah Asante has criticised former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over his recent apology to Ghanaians for the pain caused by the government\u2019s domestic debt restructuring programme, describing it as \u201ctoo little, too late.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,2652,1969,2067,1883,117,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-akufo-addo","category-debt","category-hp-news-3","category-imf","category-national","category-news","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}