Time to pass laws banning strikes by all public-sector employees in Ghana?

By Kofi Thompson

One hopes that the controversy generated by Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah's plain-speaking, about the many strikes by public-sector employees, will lead to a national conversation about strikes by public-sector employees, and low productivity levels in Ghana's public-sector.

No one who has listened to what Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah actually said, will condemn him for saying what he did.

Sadly, in a nation full of fence-sitting moral cowards, he is being condemned for saying something that needed to be said.

It is also instructive that few in the Ghanaian media are making the point that he was right to call for sacrifice on the part of those being allocated such a huge slice of the national cake.

That as much as 70 percent of total national revenue generated from taxes, has to be used to pay public-sector employees - some of whom then refuse to work and embark on strike action because they are dissatisfied with their remuneration - is a recipe for disaster.

How can we ever be a competitive nation globally in such circumstances? No nation can grow if it has to spend as much as 70 percent of total tax revenue just to pay public-sector employees. It is economic madness.

The question then is: in such straight-jacket economic circumstances, how do we fund healthcare facilities; educational institutions; expand and modernise our infrastructure, and save for the future as well? Somehow we must downsize the public sector.

It is not surprising that having direct knowledge of the negative impact that public-sector pay is having on the national economy, the plain-speaking Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah is incensed by the endless strikes by public-sector employees - who are apparently dissatisfied with the very aggregated remuneration that is gradually destroying the nation's economy.

There are many patriotic one-nation Ghanaians who also feel irritated by the many strikes by public-sector employees - who it appears are blithely unaware that paying about 500,000 Ghanaians 70 percent of total tax revenue is a real sacrifice on the part of the rest of the population.

On top of that painful reality is the bald fact that that massive recurrent expenditure will gradually ruin Ghana's economy if nothing is done about getting value for it.

For patriotic one-nation Ghanaians, it is understandable that Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah should feel frustrated by the many strikes we are witnessing in the public sector.

The former Chief of Defence Staff is a man who is modest, disciplined and clearly loves his country - attributes that must make it pretty hard for him to understand why the very people whose pay is threatening the ability of the government to fund development projects, should not be satisfied with what they are paid.

The truth of the matter, is that there is only one solution to the intolerable problem of striking public-sector employees.

Ghana must simply follow the example of the 39 out of the 50 states in the United States of America, which ban strikes by all public-sector employees.

Throughout Ghana's post-independence era, there have been dedicated and productive public-sector employees.

However, there is no question that productivity levels in the public-sector of today, leave much to be desired.

It is generally acknowledged by many independent-minded and discerning Ghanaians that if those working in the public sector, took the same attitude to work that one sees on display on a daily basis in government ministries, departments and agencies, to the private sector, they would not last very long in their jobs.

The time has now come for our political class to come together to protect the national interest in this matter - by passing new laws that ban strikes by all public-sector employees: and change the employment contracts of public-sector employees to reflect those new laws.

If that is not done now, no matter which political party is in power, public-sector employees with low productivity levels, and whom about 70 percent of total tax revenue is used to compensate, will continue to hold our nation to ransom - and our nation's economy will steadily deteriorate because after paying them there will never be enough tax revenue left to invest in productive undertakings: such as building power plants and roads, which are vital for economic growth. A word to the wise...