The Minority Leader in Parliament has praised the Finance Ministry’s initiative to start an unemployment scheme for people who have lost their jobs as a result of the impact of COVID-19.
Even though Mr Haruna Iddrisu commended this policy by the government, he pointed out that the initiative will be difficult to implement because of the lack of data or statistics on unemployment in the country.
During the Mid-year Budget review, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced that government will, in the coming weeks, implement a national unemployment insurance scheme. The scheme, according to the Minister will focus on individuals who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It is however aimed at providing temporary income support to workers who have been laid off since the virus first hit the country and will also aim to provide training for jobs in new fields of work.
But, Mr Iddrisu in an interview on Friday indicated that, the Ministry must focus its energies on propping up industries if it cannot determine statistically people who were unemployed before the pandemic and those who were affected by the pandemic.
The Minority Leader who used to be a former Employment Minister added that since most people who have lost their jobs are in the hospitality industry, the best way for government to find out the genuine laid off worker is to get the details of those affected in from their employers.
He added that, “Those young men and women who work in hotels, don’t have a life today. Those who were working in bars and restaurants don’t have a life today. So we should have been announcing a package just like you did salary for frontline workers.”
He made it clear that, this is the best alternative to establish an insurance cover scheme as there is very scanty or no reliable statistics on unemployment in the country.
The Tamale South MP said that, after the government is able to ascertain those workers then it can give them a fraction of their regular monthly salary as an insurance cover.
“If your company was paying you ¢600 and because of Covid-19, the government will give you ¢300 or ¢200, as insurance cover, then I will hail the Ministry.”
The insurance scheme for the unemployed has also been lauded by other notable people. Professor Peter Quartey, who is the Director for the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) is among such people. Regardless of his support for the programme, he has called for a well-structured scheme that will provide temporary relief for workers that does not just focus on the impact of COVID-19 on workers. According to the professor, because of the impact COVID-19 has had on the public purse, the long-lasting insurance scheme that he proffers must include the private sector.
However, government may have some other plans to augment the proposed scheme as the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffuor–Awuah indicated a few weeks ago that, plans are far advanced to engage the youth in Agric, services and manufacturing sectors.
