Kofi Asamoah, TUC Secretary General
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has observed that Ghanaians are getting poorer, as workers continue to experience a decline in real value of their pay because of inflation and the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme being run by the government.
It has consequently urged government to discontinue the IMF programme and return to its own home-grown policy to bring relief to the suffering masses as the economy takes a nosedive.
The TUC observation confirms the recent survey by the Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana) which says Ghanaians are going through hardships, with 70 percent of the people saying the country is going in a wrong direction.
Outgoing TUC Secretary General, Kofi Asamoah, told President John Mahama at the union’s 10th quadrennial delegates’ congress in Kumasi yesterday that the IMF programme had only succeeded in impoverishing Ghanaians.
“The IMF programmes have not worked anywhere and they will not work here [Ghana],” Mr Asamoah noted, and added that the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), which brought about some relief to public sector workers a few years back, had also failed to live up to the expected value to be derived.
The TUC boss stated that the rate of increase of the base pay on the SSSS had been eaten away consistently by inflation which has made life difficult for Ghanaian workers.
“The implementation of a single spine pay policy brought some relief to public sector workers in terms of salary increases between 2010 and 2012. Since 2013 however, public sector workers have been experiencing a decline in real value of their pay because the rate of increase of the base pay on the single spine salary structure has consistently left behind inflation,” the TUC Secretary General emphasized.
Mr. Asamoah indicated that the cost of living had increased dramatically as a result of increases in taxes, levies, utility tariffs and fuel prices.
“High levels of inflation and interest rates, unstable currency, unstable power supply, mass joblessness among young people and declining real earnings are quickly eroding the gains we have achieved so far,” he noted.
To him, much as workers appreciate the economic challenges in the last few years, they cannot cope with the current situation any longer.
“We can’t accept a situation where public sector workers at the bottom of the salary scale are being driven into poverty because of the IMF programme. There is a limit to what ordinary workers can endure,” he indicated.
We Can’t Dump IMF Now
However, President Mahama, in an attempt to assuage the anger of workers, told them that government was prepared not to take up another IMF programme upon the expiration of the current arrangement.
He hinted that Ghana would wean itself of IMF after 2017.
“I wish to reiterate my earlier statement that this is the ultimate IMF programme. This is the IMF programme to end all IMF programmes. Working together, we have implemented the bulk of the institutional reforms that are required under this programme. The final one being the new Bank of Ghana Amendment Act which was recently passed by Parliament,” the president indicated.
Government will cut jobs next year in the public sector under the programme.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi