BY Nadia Ntiamoah
The former Chief Executive Officer of CalBank, Frank Adu Jnr, has delivered a scathing rebuke of the former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, over their handling of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), saying he suffered significant personal losses while watching politicians “live large.”
In a candid interview aired on JoyNews on Monday, June 30, 2025, the respected banker did not mince words, declaring that he would “never forgive” the two former government officials for the financial pain caused by the controversial debt restructuring exercise launched in 2023 as part of the bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
DDEP Fallout: A Personal and National Blow
The DDEP, a key component of the Akufo-Addo administration’s strategy to restore debt sustainability, required significant sacrifices from both institutional and individual bondholders.
Local bondholders, including pensioners, were asked to exchange their old bonds for new ones with reduced interest rates and longer maturities.
Among the thousands affected was Frank Adu Jnr, who revealed during the interview that he lost his investment in Eurobonds.
Although he did not join the public protests led by pensioners at the Ministry of Finance, he expressed solidarity with those who did—citing the picketing of former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo as a symbolic representation of the broader discontent.
“I lost money,” Adu Jnr stated bluntly. “Some of my colleagues were behind the scenes working the technical details; others were vociferous out there, but I lost money in the Eurobond.”
What stings the former banker the most, however, is not just the loss—but the perceived moral betrayal.
“Why would you go after pensioners’ money?” he asked. “It’s one thing that people can never forgive Akufo-Addo and Ken Ofori-Atta for.”
A Legacy of Broken Promises
Frank Adu’s criticisms are made all the more poignant by his past relationship with Ofori-Atta, whom he described as “family.”
Recounting how he stayed with the former finance minister during a visit to the U.S., Adu said he had personally congratulated Ofori-Atta upon his appointment in 2017 and encouraged him to “leave a legacy.”
But that initial optimism, he lamented, has been crushed by what he now sees as a “disastrous” legacy.
“Disaster. Disastrous,” he repeated when asked to sum up the duo’s administration. “If it wasn’t disastrous, the people of Ghana wouldn’t have voted the way they did in 2024.”
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) suffered a heavy defeat in the 2024 general elections, which Adu Jnr believes reflected a public verdict on economic mismanagement, runaway debt, inflation, and poor fiscal discipline under Akufo-Addo’s second term.
“You do not run the economy where almost everybody is suffering and expect that the people will not object,” he added. “And that’s what the voters of this country did last year.”
Luxury for Leaders, Pain for the People?
What clearly still infuriates the former banker is what he described as the contrast between the lavish lifestyles of political elites and the suffering of ordinary Ghanaian.
“I saw them live large,” he said, referring to top government officials during the implementation of the DDEP. “So why do you want to live large at the expense of my pension?”
He went on to describe the decision to include pensioners in the debt exchange as “dark” and emblematic of a government that lost touch with the people it was elected to serve.
The Bigger Picture
Frank Adu’s critique is not isolated. The DDEP drew widespread condemnation when introduced, particularly from organized labour, pensioner groups, and financial experts who argued it eroded trust in the financial system and undermined the retirement security of thousands of Ghanaians.
The government defended the programme as a necessary measure to unlock a $3 billion IMF deal, stabilize the economy, and avoid a total fiscal collapse.
But even today, its political and economic consequences continue to reverberate across Ghana.
“We were hopeful,” Adu Jnr concluded. “But subsequent events betrayed that hope.”
