Leadership of TUC are hypocrites -Minister

The Minister for Works and Housing, Mr. Yaw Barimah, has lashed out at the Trades Union Congress (TUC), describing its leadership as hypocrites for their opposition to the Private Sector Participation (PSP) in the water sector.

According to the minister, the TUC openly opposes the idea of private sector participation in the water sector apparently because it operates a water tank that supplies water for revenue, for which reason the implementation of the PSP would affect their business.

"The TUC has a company, Labour Enterprise Trust, which is involved in water tanker services, so when they are saying that water should be free, why is it that their tankers don't supply water for free? The TUC is also saying it is against the PSP, what then are they doing with their water tanks?" he asked, stressing that, "I could read a certain measure of hypocrisy on the part of some people opposed to the PSP".

The sector minister was addressing a workshop on water sector reforms organized by the Consumers Association of Ghana.

Before making these submissions, Mr. Karl Tufuor, a seasoned journalist and now public relations officer of the Ghana Standards Board also took a swipe at the TUC leadership, noting that they fear losing their property, if the PSP is introduced and the water tank system abolished.

According to him, his investigations established that some TUC leaders operate the water tanker business to make their property and indications were that the business would collapse, should the PSP be implemented.

The TUC and government have openly disagreed on the PSP with the former urging that it should not be implemented. The TUC in its bid to make a case have embarked on a series of sensitization workshops to win more sympathies.

Recently, in collaboration with other non-governmental organizations, the congress invited an independent foreign team to evaluate the situation on the ground and, in the end, scored some points against government as the foreign team's submission went in the favour of the congress.

The Third World Network is the other organization, which is more vocal in support of the TUC.