Vice President, John Dramani Mahama, has hinted of some efforts to be put in place to alleviate the impact of the fuel price increase on civil servants.
First the government has directed the Accountant General’s Department to pay all workers by the close of this week.
He also revealed that the government intends to increase the fleet of Metro Mass Transit buses to reduce pressure on transport unions especially in major cities and towns.
The decision was taken at an emergency meeting between government's economic management team and stakeholders including the Association of Ghana Industries, Ghana Employers Association, Ghana Bankers Association, Chamber of Commerce and the Trades Union Congress.
However, the TUC has kicked against these measures; calling on government to reintroduce the fuel subsidies that were removed, leading to the increment.
Speaking to Xfm 95.1 on Tuesday January 17, 2012, the General Secretary of the Ghana Trade Union Congress, Kofi Asamoah, stressed the fuel subsidies would help alleviate the economic hardships in the country.
He said the removal of the fuel subsidies by government to cushion Ghanaians against the inadequate infrastructural facilities is untimely and called on the government to review her decision.
“…the TUC issued a statement expressing our concern and condemning those increases because we thought that the increases were steep. The timing was wrong. Some public sector workers had then not been paid and we drew government’s attention that it was going to create undue hardships for Ghanaians generally including working people.”
To him, the TUC in principle disagrees with “the removal of the subsidy which has been an issue from IMF. IMF has been the proponent of removal of subsidy over the period.”
In a statement released yesterday and signed by Mr Asamoah, the TUC stated that the measures to mitigate the impact “were inadequate in addressing the hardships the fuel price increase has imposed on Ghanaians”.
It further stated, “we find it unfair and insensitive on the part of government when it asks Ghanaians to continue to bear the harsh economic realities brought about by these steep increases as it prepares to import “more buses”. Why didn’t government bring in the buses before announcing the increases? As for the directive for the early payment of salaries for January the least said about it the better. How would early payment of the already low salary in the public sector mitigate the economy-wide effects of fuel price increase?”
Mr Asamoah said the TUC will do “everything it takes to ensure that we achieve our objective”, starting with series of meetings with workers across the country on the way forward.
The outcome of these meetings, he said, will determine the next line of action.
Story by Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/X fm 95.1/Accra/Ghana
No comments:
Post a Comment