Secretary-General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr Anthony Yaw Baah, has urged the Board of Trustees of Pension Funds to reject any attempt to include pension funds of their clients onto government’s new Proposed Alternative Offer as part of the debt exchange programme.
According to Organised Labour, after scrutinizing a letter dated April 7th, 2023, inviting the Board of Trustees of Pension Funds to participate in a New GOG Proposed Alternative Offer for Pension Funds, it has come to a firm conclusion that it “amounts to roping pension funds back into the DDE Programme”.
He reckoned that “this request undermines the spirit and letter of the MoU signed between Government and Organised Labour”.
Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah addressing a press conference today, April 20, charged the government to honour the tenets of the MoU signed on Thursday, December 22, 2022.
“We, therefore, urge the Board of Trustees of all Pension Funds not to honour the invitation to participate in the so-called alternative offer for pension funds. Any attempt by Government or the Board of Trustees of Pension Schemes to undermine the MOU will be fiercely resisted by Organised Labour.”
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah
Moreover, Dr Baah has called on civil society organizations to develop a roadmap for the country. He revealed that the continuous change in power between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is slowing the development of the country. To this end, he revealed that the roadmap will help to sustain development in the country.
“Political party manifestos rule this country and then this party comes and throws away all the projects under the previous government. Civil society must develop the roadmap for Ghana and that is what African Center for Economic Transformation led by Dr KY Amoako is doing.”
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah
Dr Yaw Baah addressing the leadership of Organized Labour, stated that the meeting was not only about the present but the future as well.
“If you look at those who are retired, who are on pension, they will not be up to 300,000 and just a small percentage are women, and these are issues that we need to look at as labour. So, we are not only talking about today – incomes and pensions – we are also talking about the future.”
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah
Mismanagement of the country by NDC/NPP
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the TUC has bemoaned the level of mismanagement the two major political parties have subjected Ghana to in the past three decades. He indicated that their manifestos, with which they govern anytime they are in power, have delayed the country’s growth.
“We know that even though we have been stable for the past 30 years politically, economically we are down to the extent that Ghana can now not pay our debts.”
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah
Dr Yaw Baah bemoaned the circumstances that have brought Ghana to this point, to the extent that one of West Africa’s richest economies can only be sustained through debts. In light of this, he iterated his call for civil society to take up the responsibility of developing a roadmap for Ghana.
“These two parties – NPP and NDC have sold all our assets to foreigners such that we now have to rely on debt to develop our country. Our incomes are terrible and even if we compare with our neighbours within the region, our incomes are among the lowest.”
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah
The discussions held by TUC is to firm up a decision by Organized Labour with regards to the new proposal by government on an alternative debt restructuring programme believed to be another domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP).
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