�Stop Insulting Workers�

Former Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akomea, has said that accusations by government officials that members of the NPP are fueling labour agitations in the country is a gross disregard and disrespect to workers. Nana Akomea was reacting to recent claims by the Minister of Communications, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, to the effect that leaders of the labour unions in the country were being influenced by the opposition NPP. In an interview with yesterday in Accra, he described such accusations as �a terrible humiliation of Ghanaian workers by the government.� He said, �To say that workers are being influenced by the NPP is to suggest that they cannot think for themselves and are just robust in the hands of opposition politicians.� Speaking at a programme dubbed, �People�s Forum� held in the Volta regional capital, Ho, Omane Boamah was reported as saying that a leading member of the opposition had spoken about the NPP�s role in fueling labour agitations. He however, fell short of putting out the name of the supposed opposition member. It would be recalled that Dr. Kpessah Whyte, a Presidential Staffer speaking on a Joy News File programme a couple of weeks ago, accused leaders of labour unions of lacking what he described as �the requisite knowledge on Pension Schemes to offer the requisite leadership.� This infuriated union leaders who called on him to render an unqualified apology. Reacting to government�s position on the issue, Nana Akomea stated emphatically that instead of accusing opposition politicians, government should rather focus attention on finding a lasting solution to workers� plight and the ailing Ghanaian economy. Labour unions have embarked on a series of protests against the government in recent times, demanding better conditions of service and the general overhauling of the ailing Ghanaian economy. The most recent is a strike called by 12 labour unions, including the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), among others, who are strongly in disagreement with government�s decision to appoint a trustee � Pension Alliance Trust � to keep their Tier Two pension contribution. In a nearly two-week stand-off, the public workers declared a strike and only resumed after government had obtained a court order compelling them to return to work. The workers insist that they have the power to appoint the trustee(s) to oversee the management of their Tier Two pension funds and that government acted arbitrarily. But government insists that as the employer, it has the mandate to appoint the trustee(s). The Attorney-General is seeking a declaration in court to confirm its action.