Focus on creating more jobs - TUC tells Government

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on government to adopt a more focused and concerted approach towards employment creation.

It should put in place support measures for the private sector to assist it to become the real engine of growth and provide decent jobs for the people.

Mr. Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of TUC, said it was sad that the so-called economic growth rates achieved over the years had failed to create employment for Ghanaians as joblessness continued to soar.

He was speaking at the opening of their 9th quadrennial delegates’ congress in Kumasi.

The four-day meeting is under the theme: “Organizing for Empowerment, Employment Security and Increased Productivity.”

Mr. Asamoah attributed the inability of the nation’s high economic growth to deliver jobs to the failure of politicians to prioritize employment creation after elections, and the exploitation of natural resources in their raw material form.

He stressed the need for the government to aid the manufacturing sector and place the people at the centre of the nation’s development efforts by addressing the many challenges bedeviling the private sector.

He called for the review of the country’s trade policy and the unbridled trade liberalization regime that had placed domestic firms in unfair competition with matured and highly subsidized firms in the developed countries.

Government must additionally undertake strategic interventions in the money market to bring down the cost of borrowing.

Mr. Asamoah re-affirmed the TUC’s commitment to resolutely uphold and defend the democratic foundations of the nation by organizing and resisting any attempt to subvert the current democratic dispensation and threats to the nation’s peace and stability.

He reminded all stakeholders in the upcoming elections to exhibit maturity, fairness and transparency in the electoral process.

He advised the electorate to vote for candidates, who have the most convincing ideas about job creation, improvement in incomes and access to housing, education, health, electricity, water and sanitation.

Professor William Otoo Ellis, Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), urged the leadership of the TUC to work with other stakeholders to make the outcome of the congress beneficial to workers.

Mr. Alex Bonney, Chairman of the TUC, said it was regrettable Ghana still did not have employment policy and said the leadership of labour was seriously engaging the government to develop an efficient employment policy.