Organized labour can support political parties with good policies

Accra, April 22, GNA - Organized labour, which is a coalition of the various trade unions in the country, has been urged to be bold enough to throw its support behind any political party which it believes has policies that would serve its interest and that of the society. "Organized labour can support any political leadership that it believes has policies that can help improve upon the living standards of its members and that of the populace," said Professor Kwame Karikari, Executive Director of Media Foundation for West Africa, an organization that protects the interest of journalists and the journalism. Speaking on Wednesday at a forum held by Organized Labour as part of May Day celebrations, he noted that democracy only thrived when the standard of living of the populace was improved upon. "Democracy should put in place the needed measures needed to improve upon the livelihood of the citizenry," he added. He noted that although organized labour should insulate itself from party politics, it should not remain neutral, especially in national issues that might have negative impact on the society. Professor Karikari, former Director of School of Communications Studies, University of Ghana, noted that many Third World countries were feeling the pinch of the credit crunch that had hit many of the world's biggest economies primarily because their economic policies were woven around those of the affected countries.

On how to break free from our reliance on foreign aid, he called for less dependency on exported goods and measures put in place to ensure that they made good use of what was produced in the country. He appealed to organized labour to ensure that all national policies were implemented and it should also help to promote consensus building in all national issues. He praised the Ghana Labour Forum for its ability to build a labour front devoid of any ethnicity and nepotism and urged them to ensure that all national issues were devoid of these vices since they were the recipe for disaster in any society.