TUC Barks at Mills - The Cost of Living is Too High

The Trades Union Congress (TUC), Ghana, has asked the government of Prof. John Evans Atta Mills to stop patting its own shoulders for allegedly bringing inflation down, and turn its attention to the conditions of the ordinary Ghanaian, especially, poor workers at the wrong end of the rising cost of living.

On an Accra radio station yesterday, the Acting General Sectary of the TUC, Dr. Yaw Baah, was of the opinion that the government's obsession at maintaining inflation in single digits, failed to address the concerns of the Ghanaian worker.

"We wanted to bring out the issue of the rising cost of living and the relationship with living standards, because once politicians start using inflation and start saying it's low... there is the tendency for people to think that cost of living is falling. Cost of living is not falling. It is the rate of increase which is falling," Dr. Yaw Baah said on Joy FM.

He told his audience that while the macroeconomic indicators might look promising, the end effect was not felt among the populace.

Dr. Yaw Baah wondered why, for instance, it takes a worker who earns the minimum wage, four days to buy a delicacy like tilapia, stressing "that is not good enough."

The TUC is not enthused about the situation, and is calling on the government to turn its attention to the plight of the people.

Dr. Baah added that the government must, as a matter of urgency, implement the 20 percent across-board pay increase, as agreed upon for 2011, before Christmas.

Saddled with pressure to fulfill the numerous campaign promises and manifesto pledges, for which the majority of Ghanaians voted the National Democratic Congress (NDC) into power, general economic conditions of Ghanaians, under the Mills- Mahama administration, continue to decline after nearly three years in office.

While most Ghanaians, especially, the youth, still wait for the numerous jobs promised them by the then opposition NDC, led by then candidate Mills, a good number of the fortunate few who are employed earn an undignified amount for their services .

In the midst of increasing hardship, the government continues to self appraise itself over so-called falling inflation and strong macro economic indicators, which mean almost nothing to the average Ghanaian, who suffers the brunt of the economic hardship on a daily basis.

The National Tripartite Committee, in February this year, increased the minimum daily wage by 20 percent, from GH ¢3.11 to GH ¢3.73, but the ever-increasing cost of living, and the prevailing economic conditions in the country, makes a mockery of the amount.

At a meeting with a group of women from 25 African countries in Accra recently, former first lady Mrs. Rawlings did not mince words to point out to her colleagues about the high cost of living in the country.

"Ghana is one of the most expensive countries on this continent. Very, very expensive," she told her guests.

Mrs. Rawlings also shared the opinion that the much-trumpeted economic indices, such as a single digit inflation, had done very little to improve living conditions in the country, and that such indicators should not be the basis for determining how well the economy was doing. "I believe the economy can be run differently," she claimed.

She said that the way out of the quagmire of economic policies being pursued in the name of a Better Ghana agenda, was for the country to consider venturing into serious production, and engaging the youth in the productive sectors of the economy.