Kofi Asamoah
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana has told President John Dramani Mahama that workers are losing hope as regards his ability to fix the power crisis that is fast crippling the economy.
The union charged the President to step up his government’s efforts in finding a lasting solution to the energy crisis.
Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the TUC, who made this known at the 2015 May Day parade in Accra said, “We are aware of the measures you and your government are taking to deal with the energy crisis but it is taking too long to fix it. We are beginning to lose hope.”
This, he said, was fuelled by the fact that workers’ finances were being stretched to the limit because of the high inflation, the rising cost of living and high income taxes.
“Many workers now survive on personal loans from banks at a very high interest rate. Businesses are also stretched to the limit because they have had to power their businesses with generators and finance their operations with high interest loans,” the TUC boss said.
He said the erratic power supply was affecting Ghanaian workers adversely to the extent that the majority of them were beginning to lose their jobs due to austerity measures being taken by companies to survive the energy crisis.
Mr. Asamoah said thousands of Ghanaian workers had been denied jobs due to ‘Dum-sor’ and many more were likely to suffer the same fate as the crisis persisted.
He said there were real prospects of increasing both domestic and foreign direct investments in Ghana because of the peace in the country but due to the erratic and unreliable power supply, Ghana was gradually, but surely, losing its status as a preferred investment destination in West Africa.
Mr. Asamoah urged the President to do everything in his power to prevent the crisis from degenerating into a social and political crisis, saying, “Provide leadership that will lead us out of this energy crisis.”
He implored government to explore alternate sources of power such as solar, and wind, especially for communities without power.
Mr. Asamoah urged workers to rededicate themselves to the task of building the country towards addressing the power crisis.
President Responds
President Mahama, in his remarks, once again assured Ghanaians that the power crisis would soon be a thing of the past.
“Our power supply challenges are temporary and we will soon consider them to be a bad nightmare from which we have awoken,” he noted.
He debunked assertions that the erratic power supply was as a result of lack of money to buy light crude oil to power plants.
“Our current challenge is not because we don’t have money to buy crude oil as some people will want us to believe. In our anxiety to see the end of these power challenges you might hear many dates being bandied about… we expect to achieve a complete end to this load management by end of the year,” President Mahama said.
Mahama also noted that smart businesses in country were not laying off workers but investing to expand in spite of the current power crisis facing the country.
He noted that despite the current economic predicament facing the nation, several jobs were being created.
He cited the Accra Brewery Limited (ABL), which recently procured a $100 million production plant with the aim of doubling the company’s production capacity to buttress his point.
He reiterated his commitment to solving the problem, saying, “We are working to strategically and permanently fix the generation shortfalls that we are currently experiencing.”
On ADB Issue
President Mahama, meanwhile, tasked the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu, to hold an urgent meeting between the management and staff of ADB to resolve any existing misunderstanding.
He said the agitation by the workers over the decision of managers of the bank to raise money through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) occurred as a result of a communication gab.
The President commended Ghanaian workers for their dedicated service to the country and urged them to work diligently to improve productivity.
Display of Placards
The May Day parade at the Black Star Square was highly patronized by Ghanaian workers in their respective company attire.
Some of them bore placards which read, “Mr. President Dumsor must end”, “Dead Goat come alive and stay alive”, “Energy is key to economic success”, “TOR must work again”, “Has TOR been sold”, and “Mr. President arrest the fall of the Cedi”.
By Cephas Larbi
Via: -Daily Guide
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