By Stephen Asante
Bolgatanga (U/E), May 01, GNA – Ghana has not laid any public sector worker off over the economic crisis the nation is going through, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.
“There have been no job losses. Every public sector worker continues to keep his or her job,” he emphasised.
“Even at the peak of the dual global health and economic crises of the last three years, Government ensured that no public sector worker was taken off the payroll as a result of the crises.”
President Akufo-Addo was addressing a national parade to mark the 2023 International Workers’ Day celebration, at the Bolgatanga Jubilee Park, in the Upper East Region.
He said the Government’s posture today remained unchanged even in these difficult times the nation found itself in.
This development, he said, testified to the Government’s resolve to protect the income and livelihood of workers.
The International Workers’ Day, also known as Labour Day or May Day, falls on May 1, and is a public holiday in more than 80 countries, including Ghana.
It is meant to celebrate the contributions of workers, promote their rights and commemorate the labour movement.
Ghana is commemorating this year’s Day under the theme: “Protecting Incomes and Pensions in an Era of Economic Crisis: Our responsibility”.
President Nana Akufo-Addo explained that the Government’s determination to improve the wellbeing of workers had been demonstrated through increases in the national daily minimum wage, base pay, pension payments, among others, in spite of their fiscal impact on the economy.
These increments, he said, had been made possible, because the Government was empathetic towards the people as it should, and also concerned about their plight and future of the country.
The President said protecting pensions and incomes in an era of economic crisis was tied to increasing productivity, enhancing revenue mobilisation, effective expenditure management as well as the management and sustainability of the public sector wage bill.
He said the Government was working on the payment of pensions to the retirees of the year 2020, adding the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) had completed the computations and had forwarded them to the Ministry of Finance.
“The Minister of Finance has assured me it will be effective this year,” the President noted.
GNA