Bawumia to govt: Stop hiding retrenchment plans

Vice-presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, has challenged government to make public, discussions it is having with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and government concerning plans to lay off public sector workers after the November polls.

Addressing a group of students at the Accra Polytechnic, Dr Bawumia dared government to make the information public if it had nothing to hide.

“Just in December 2015, the government presented a plan to IMF for the rationalisation of civil servants’ (retrenchment) in 2017. They have presented a plan to the IMF,” he stated.

“I ask through the Minister of Finance that in the interest of transparency, make this document of the laying off of workers that you have submitted to the IMF in December, make it public so that all Ghanaians will see, all the taxpayers will see what you are planning to do,” the former Second Deputy Bank of Ghana Governor challenged.

“The IMF is not more important than Ghanaians in the discourse of this matter. If the government has nothing to hide, it should make the document public.”