May Day is quite unnecessary – Osu Mantse

Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, Osu Mantse and President of the Osu Traditional Council, has said the May Day celebration is waste of resources.

He said there is, however, the need for workers and government to consolidate what the country has gained since independence on other occasions like the Independence Day.

Nii Kinka Dowuona VI, who said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said there is no economic significance attached to the May Day as far as the country’s 58 years of independence was concerned.

The May Day is celebrated by workers to take stock of their contributions to national development, and to deliberate on prevailing working and living conditions.

The Osu Mantse said Ghanaian workers in several sectors do not attach seriousness to their work and this has resulted in low productivity, yet they clamour for higher monthly earnings on such May Days.

“Workers must be honest to themselves. They have to ask themselves what work they have done to be quantified into the pay [demands]. They have been mandated to start work at 0800 hours and close at 1700 hours; do they abide by the rules?"

“If [public sector workers] want to be paid like workers in the private banks then they must change their attitude towards work by working assiduously and effectively,” Nii Kinka Dowuona VI said.

He said the time has come for workers to think of what they can do for the nation, but not the other way round and “we need to cut our coats according to our size”.