Kufuor salutes Ghanaian workers

Accra, May 1, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday saluted Ghanaian workers for the understanding they had shown for the country's situation and their preparedness to compromise for the good of the nation.

He said it had been through the tacit support of organized labour that the nation had succeeded in lowering inflation from over 40 per cent to 9.9 per cent in five years.

"I am confident that with goodwill on all sides and playing by the ground rules of corporate Ghana, our nation shall succeed", President Kufuor said when he addressed this year's National May Day parade at the Independence Square in Accra.

Alhaji Aliu Mahama, the Vice President, Ministers of State, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and the Leadership of various labour organisations were present at the well-attended event which was on the theme: "Organised Labour in an Era of Increasing Global Challenge." President Kufuor said the fact that the country had not buckled under the extremely high crude oil price on the world market showed the innate strength of the economy.

He also paid tribute to farmers, whose produce of staple foods had performed so well, especially over the past three years and had stabilized the consumer price index, adding that, the dramatic increase in cocoa production had led to substantial increase in export earning for the national economy.

"There is no doubt that Ghana has currently attained a plateau of economic and financial stability from which, it must launch itself into accelerated growth."

President Kufuor said the three priorities of his Government, which were, Human Resource Development, Private Sector Development and Continued Good Governance would be pursued to attract the critical mass of investment to gain the needed acceleration.

"Of course, the motivation requisite for attaining this consonance translates into improving emoluments and working conditions for the workforce of the country", he emphasised.

President Kufuor said the Government was fashioning out ways and means of securing the consonance and it was therefore important for workers to show a large measure of discipline and forbearance so as not to drive away the investments that the economy must have. He said the immediate vision of his administration was to make Ghana the financial, commercial and production platform for investors, with access to domestic, regional and global markets, adding that this approach was informed by the history of other nations that had made it in recent times.

President Kufuor pointed out that this would entail increases in employment opportunities and a quantum leap of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), saying, "This is the way Ghana will attain the middle income status."

He, therefore, called on organized labour and indeed the entire population to share the vision with Government and to support it. He enumerated a number of projects being pursued, which would tremendously help in achieving the platform of production status envisioned, mentioning, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), the date for the signing of the Compact is fixed for July 28; the Integrated Aluminium Industry, that comes with the rehabilitation of the railway system, including the Western and Eastern Lines and the completion of the West Africa Gas Pipeline.

The rest are the Off-shore Container Shipping hub to service much of the Continent and beyond, the Internet backbone connectivity for which the Chinese Government had given Ghana a concessionary loan of 30 million dollars to start the phase one and water transportation using a Canadian technology to remove stumps in the Volta Lake to facilitate the development of cheap transportation on the Lake for bulk haulage of produce.

President Kufuor said he was sure all Ghanaians were aware that the nation was a toast internationally for being a haven of peace and stability in the West Africa Sub-Region, something, which was earning the country goodwill in many respects including attracting investments. "I will appeal to organized labour and the entire society to resolve to deepen these credentials to enable us to maximize our investment pull."

He announced that the Government had tasked the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana to work with some other advisors on salaries and wages and the pension scheme submitted by the Bediako Committee.

"This should aim at a comprehensive pay structure, which can be improved exponentially in line with the improving economy. Our hope is to be able to launch within the next few months, this new and comprehensive scheme that will account for all levels of the nation's workforce", he said.

He called on all stakeholders including the Government, employers, labour and civil society to respect and avail themselves of the services of the Labour Commission for the settlement of all labour disputes.