A former Minister for Finance, Dr Kwabena Duffuor has called on government to discontinue with the “current starvation wages” and pay living wages to Ghanaian workers.
He praised Ghanaian workers for sustaining the nation and called for economic justice to prevail in ongoing labour agitations for better working conditions.
“May Day is an opportunity to celebrate the tireless work of the men and women whose labour sustains our nation.
“On days such as this, it is important that we reflect on the contributions of workers to our national development, but it is most essential that we seize the opportunity to stand in solidarity with our labour force and on the side of economic justice”, Dr. Duffuor stated in a solidarity statement published on his official social media handles to mark the 2022 May Day celebration of Ghanaian workers.
The former Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG) who is hoping to lead the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2024 general election cited rising inflation as a cause of the loss of value in workers’ wages.
“In a country where productivity does not equate to real wage, we breed a culture of labour theft and unrest. Workers deserve wages commensurate to their hours of labour. But at a time when inflation continues to rise yet our last salary increment was 4% in 2020, real wages have drastically lost their value”, he stressed.
Dr. Duffuor accused government for what he described as its inaction about low wages of workers as “a betrayal of the loyalty and service of workers”.
Ghanaian public sector workers are currently asking for a 19.4% increment in wages equivalent to the rate of inflation but government has so far not yielded.
The former manager of Ghana’s economy under President John Evans Atta Mills, advised government to restructure its approach to revenue generation by plugging expenditure loopholes, revising tax exemptions, revisiting property tax and taxes on natural resources.
“These are key instruments to create fiscal space to improve workers’ conditions of service and guarantee a living wage for all our workers”, he added.
