President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called for attitudinal change among the Ghanaian workforce to propel the nation’s development.
Speaking at this year’s May Day celebration at the Black Star Square in Accra, he lamented how some Ghanaian workers arrived at their work places late and spend the first hour praying instead of working. He went further to ask all workers to adopt positive work attitudes.
The theme for this year’s celebration was Mobilizing for Ghana’s Future Through the Creation of Decent Jobs.
The President observed that most Ghanaian workers, “are clock watchers and leave in the middle of critical work because it is the official closing time. Everything comes to a stop when it rains and we seem to expect the rest of the world also to stop”.
He also mentioned how petty theft, reckless use of office vehicles and neglect of Company property were hindering national development.
President Akufo-Addo urged workers to respect working hours and put in their best at their work places, calling on the Trade Union Congress to lead the campaign for a change in attitude towards work in order to move the country forward.
He revealed that through a payroll audit conducted by the Ministry of Finance in the last two months, some 26,589 workers’ salaries have been suspended from the April 2017 payroll.
According to the President, these workers had not been biometrically verified by SSNIT, despite numerous calls by the Controller and Accountant General to do so, explaining that the idea of biometric verification was to isolate ghost names from the payroll.
The cost of maintaining these 26,589 names on government payroll, the President stated, is GH¢36,166,203 per month, implying that “government stands to save the country over GH¢433 million on this year’s budget alone through this exercise.”
He noted that in addition to the biometric verification, other efforts aimed at cleaning the payroll were being undertaken by government.
The President also assured unemployed Nurses and Midwives that they would soon be employed by the government. He announced a number of reforms in the Electricity Company of Ghana Concession Agreement.
On the issue of ‘galamsey’, President Akufo Addo commended the Ghanaian media for leading the campaign against illegal mining popularly referred to as galamsey.
He added that the media with the overwhelming support of all well-meaning citizens had given true meaning to the call for all to be good citizens and not spectators.
According to the President, government’s fight against galamsey is not an attempt to deny people of jobs but a quest to hold in trust a safe environment for future generations.
Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Dr. Yaw Baah, has attributed the country’s socio-economic challenges to mismanagement.
He expressed disappointment that in spite of the country’s enormous wealth in the form of natural and human resources, a significant number of Ghanaians could not afford decent housing, education and basic health care.
Dr. Baah however, commended the Akufo-Addo government for the positive development in the management of the economy in the past four months which is evident in the decline of inflation and interest rates and the regaining of the value of the Cedi.
Workers of different Institutions carried placards with inscriptions such as Mr. President, time for National Cancer Policy, Reduce overtime tax now, pay teachers’ salary arrears, jobs and more jobs and we need more money.
*Workers of GRIDCO with a placard at the parade.
