The Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) believes government’s $940m bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has compelled the former to take decisions that are inconsistent with government’s social democratic philosophy and principles.
“A lot of the new policy initiatives announced by the government are very much inconsistent with social democratic philosophy or principles which this government ascribes to…I suspect that what is happening has a lot to do with the conditionality of the IMF bailout,” the CEO of ISODSEC, Dr. Stephen Manteaw said.
[contextly_sidebar id=”FgleKhbUSgOEdFXQ65twD2FZgn5Lxh4z”]One of such policies mandates students at various tertiary institutions to cater for their utility bills.
However Dr. Manteaw believes these new measures will curtail the role of the state in ensuring that citizens are able to assess essential social services norminally.
“When you go for the IMF bail out these are some of the things that you should expect, a cut back in social spending and also conservation of revenue so to the extent that we are now acting to pay for utility that we use to me smacks of an IMF kind of conditionality.”
Dr. Manteaw pointed out that government has to either provide basic goods and services for the citizenry or put in place the necessary measures that will create an enabling environment for citizens to provide them.
“When you and I pay taxes, we expect these taxes to be used to provide goods and services.In some nations access to health care, access to education, access to potable water are all regarded as rights of citizens and government has to either provide these things or create the enabling environment for citizens to able to provide it themselves.”
He predicted that the current situation might lead to a rolling back of the role of the state in “ensuring citizens’ access to essential social services.”
IMF conditions
The IMF asked the government to limit nominal increase in the total wage bill to 10 percent.
This move according to the IMF will be supported by an agreement with the trade unions on a 13 percent wage increase over the 2013 basic nominal wage.
The IMF also asked government to discontinue the 10 percent cost of living allowance and limit net hiring in the public sector.
It further recommended that subsides for utilities and petroleum products should be eliminated through strict implementation of tariff and price adjustment mechanisms.
Poverty and social impact assessment
However commenting on these suggestions projected by the IMF, Dr. Mantaew asked government to carry out a a poverty and social impact assessment of those policies before implementing them.
He said this will help the government identify vulnerable groups and put in place effective measures to cover those who will be affected by its introduction.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah