Don't rush Government on ESB- Kufuor

Following workers agitation for the restoration of End of Service Benefits (ESB), President Kufuor has said it was unfair for workers to give the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government an ultimatum, since it did not abolish it.

"I don't want to believe that there is an ulterior motive behind those agitations. If there is an ulterior motive, I want to assure those people that this government will not budge. It would move at its own pace".

President Kufuor was addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Tamale as part of his three-day tour of the Northern Region. He appealed to the workers to stop threatening by wearing red bands and instead be patient and buy time with the government.

He asked workers to rather seek to be productive wherever they were "so that we can put value into our money and earn more on what we produce".

The President said the NPP would never take the interest of the working masses for granted and that he had directed the sector minister to talk with the leadership of the workers to ensure sanity in the labour front.

He appealed to the workers to give the government time to prove itself. He said within 11 months, the NPP government has stabilised the cedi and interest rates were also coming down.

Last year the cedi depreciated by more than 100 per cent compared to only three per cent this year.

The President said the decision to join the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative was yielding dividends. Apart from the cancellation of the 200 million dollar debt, the international creditors would meet by mid-January to cancel many debts owed by Ghana.

The President said Ghana would save over 200 million dollar next year from the HIPC initiative.