Accra, Jan. 20, GNA – A group of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) haS called on government to consider expanding the various social intervention schemes to curb the worsening inequality in the country.
It also wanted government to address issues of corruption that had characterised some of the interventions to ensure they reached the targeted beneficiaries to make the expected impact.
The CSOs made the call at a multi-stakeholder forum on the Commitment to Reducing Inequality in Ghana, in Accra.
The forum, jointly organised by OXFAM, SEND-Ghana and the CSOs Platform on SDG, was to share and discuss findings of the 2021 Commitment to Reducing Inequality(CRI) report released by OXFAM in November last year.
It was also to make policy proposals and secure commitment to alleviate and address the widening inequality gap in the present COVID-19 context.
Dr George Domfe, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana, said Ghana had made significant stride in terms of economic growth over the last couple of years culminating in the reduction of the inequality gap in the country.
Despite the progress, Dr Domfe said more Ghanaians continued to live in extreme poverty.
He said expanding the numerous social intervention programmes, especially the Livelihood EmpowermentAgainst Poverty (LEAP) programme, by increasing the amount given to the beneficiaries, as well as roping in more disadvantaged people, would go a long way in alleviating the plight of more vulnerable persons and help bridge the inequality gap.
“Ghana is not doing well at all in social interventions. We are not spending so much in that area if you compare us to the other African countries and I think government can do better to cushion a lot of poor people and help bridge the gap,” he emphasised.
Ghana currently is implementing more than 40 different social protection interventions to reduce poverty and bridge the inequality gap in the country.
These interventions include the LEAP, the Ghana School Feeding Programme, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Capitation Grant, the Free Senior High School (FSHS), Free School Uniform, Free Exercise books and the Labour-Intensive public works.
Figures from research conducted by OXFAM showed that in the decade up to 2016, Ghana saw 1,000 new US dollar millionaires created, while nearly one million were pushed into poverty.
Ghana is currently ranked 3rd in West Africa as the most committed country to reducing inequality.
In Africa, it ranks 20th and 121st globally.
Professor Godfred A. Bokpin, Economist at the University of Ghana Business Schools, noted that the country had performed poorly when it came to labour, especially in addressing unemployment.
While advising government to review the country’s current tax regime, especially in the informal sector, he urged it to tackle issues of unemployment.
Data from the GSS indicates that unemployment rate in Ghana has almost tripled in little more than a decade and more than 1.55 million people, or 13.4 per cent of the country’s economically active population are out of work.
Professor Bokpin, therefore, encouraged the government to show more commitment in the agriculture sector, which employed more of the country’s labour force, to curb the phenomenon.
Mr Vitus Azeem, Chairman, Tax Justice Coalition, advised government to prioritise the collection of property tax to rake in more revenue and reduce the tax burden on the ordinary Ghanaian.
Ms Harriet Nuamah Agyemang, Senior Progamme Officer, SEND-Ghana, appealed to government to ensure enough allocation and disbursement of budgetary allocation to the health sector, to expand the infrastructural needs to achieve the Univeral Health Coverage agenda by 2030.
The Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index is a multidimensional index, which ranks 158 countries on policy performance to reduce inequality through public services, progressive taxation and labour rights.
GNA