‘Yentua’ was negotiation, not recklessness – Sam Jonah on Acheampong’s debt decision

Business leader Sir Sam Jonah has praised former Head of State General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong’s 1972 decision to repudiate some of Ghana’s external debt, describing it as an act of courage and a demonstration of negotiation skill.

Delivering the Second General I.K. Acheampong Memorial Lecture in Accra on Friday, November 13, 2026, Mr Jonah said Acheampong’s government announced on February 5, 1972, that Ghana would not honour about US$90 million in suppliers’ credits it considered tainted by corruption, fraud or inflated contracts.

He said the decision became known through the Akan expression “Yentua”, meaning “we will not pay”.

“The Daily Graphic put it in one Akan word, in a headline this country has never forgotten: Yentua. We will not pay,” he said.

Sir Jonah argued that Acheampong’s decision reflected a willingness to withstand immediate economic pressure in pursuit of what he described as long-term national dignity.

“He was prepared to absorb short-term pain for long-term dignity. That is not recklessness. That is negotiation,” he said.

According to Mr Jonah, the debt repudiation compelled creditors to return to negotiations, eventually leading to a rescheduling agreement in Rome in 1974.

Under the arrangement, he said, the debt was rescheduled at an interest rate of 2.5 per cent, with an extended grace period.

Sir Jonah contrasted the 1972 decision with Ghana’s suspension of payments on much of its external debt in December 2022, which preceded the country’s debt restructuring programme.

He said the two episodes reflected different circumstances, arguing that Acheampong’s decision was presented as a deliberate negotiating position, while the 2022 default was driven by the country’s inability to meet its debt obligations.

“In December 2022, fifty years after Yentua, our government again announced that it would stop paying most of its external debt. But this was no choice made from strength, to the applause of the nation. It was a default forced upon us, and it reached into the savings of pensioners and ordinary depositors,” he said.

“In 1972 the slogan was Yentua: we will not pay. In 2022 the honest slogan would have been Yentumi: we cannot,” he added.

The lecture formed part of a broader call for renewed discussion about Ghana’s debt management, economic sovereignty and the lessons that can be drawn from the country’s past dealings with creditors.