President John Dramani Mahama yesterday painted a bright future for Ghana’s economy, saying projections by respected international bodies, including the World Bank, indicated that the local economy would "grow in leaps and bounds".
He said the projection of a sound economy footing was predicated on the hard choices that the government had made in repositioning the economy. At a durbar of workers to mark this year’s May Day in Wa in the Upper West Region, President Mahama said the government remained committed to creating the enabling environment that would ensure that businesses thrived to sustain current employment levels and generate even more for the youth.
Yesterday's event was the first time Wa hosted Ghana's version of a global day that celebrates workers annually.
Organised labour held the event on the theme: "Election 2016: The role of workers in securing peaceful elections for national development".
On the issue of whether or not the government would privatise the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), President Mahama calmed the nerves of organised labour when he made it clear that the government had no intention of privatising the ECG.
"The ECG is and will remain a wholly owned state enterprise," he added.
He was responding to a major concern raised by the leadership of organised labour at the celebration.
President Mahama said the government had taken the position that the privatisation of the ECG was not an option to even consider.
Assurance to workers
The assurance was greeted with wild cheers by workers, including members of the Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU) who had expressed their displeasure over rumours of an intended privatisation of the ECG on placards put on display at the event.
Making their presence felt with attention-catching interjections during the two-hour programme, PUWU also displayed messages whose theme was captured in one question on a placard: "Why privatise ECG?"
Indeed, the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah, had cautioned the government against the "intended privatisation of the ECG", insisting that it "will be a landmark privatisation whose consequences can be catastrophic".
Having stated that the high cost of electricity was one of the leading causes of the rising cost of living in the country, Brother Asamoah said the situation could be worse if the ECG "is handed to the profit-motivated private sector".
He indicated that some of the challenges confronting the sector were successive low investments in power generation and managerial shortcomings which required the political will to hire the best human resources for the ECG.
Responding to the issues raised by organised labour, President Mahama expressed concern over recent system challenges that had occasioned higher tariff charges by the ECG for some customers and called on the management of the company to remedy the situation.
Gratitude to Ghanaians
While expressing gratitude to Ghanaians for their patience and tolerance during the difficult days of power rationing, he said the government had taken measures to reduce the possibility of a recurrence of power challenges on that scale.
He mentioned, for instance, the government's investment into thermal power to ensure consistent supply to consumers, but acknowledged that the increasing reliance on thermal power had also proved to be more expensive.
Even then, he said "dumsor" which had come to symbolise power rationing was not an option.
President Mahama said the theme: "Election 2016: The role of workers in securing peaceful elections for national development”, was timely and relevant for the moment and asked organised labour to take a keen interest in the elections and to be at the forefront of the electoral process to ensure a free, fair and transparent process.
He pledged that as President, he would work to ensure that Ghana's elections were credible and fair.
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