The Head of department of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr. Godfred Bokpin has said government cannot pay the allowances and wages demanded by some labour unions because of the bailout programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).<\/p>\n
President John Mahama on Wednesday hinted on the possible collapse of the economy should government concede to the financial demands of some of the unions.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”58JDJBKiqhaECmEZjHDbCYjX00kbcAED”]He insisted that government will not spend any amount on wages and allowances that have not been captured in the budget.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Citi News<\/strong> on the sidelines of an economic forum organised by the Good Governance Africa, a civil society group, Dr. Bokpin noted that government may not also heed to the demands of labour due to the implications it may have on the economy.<\/p>\n He said \u201cI think that the ultimate employer is the economy so if the economy cannot support that then certainly you don\u2019t want to go that way.\u00a0But I can understand the government because their hands are tied. We are running a programme that already has some stringent requirements so we are looking at that as against meeting the expectations of labour.<\/p>\n He said economy cannot contain the pressure on it \u201cbeyond a certain point\u201d so \u201cwe just have to be realistic with that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe most effective way to solve that is to also increase your productivity. You can also put the demand of labour in a particular contest because the cost of living has also gone up because of the various frictions in the economy. It\u2019s about government sitting down with them and see realistically what is it that can be accommodated in a form of negotiation. But I want to believe that there isn\u2019t much government can do because of the IMF programme also,\u201d added\u00a0Bokpin.<\/p>\n The Ghana Medical Association<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, and the Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (GHOSPA) are on strike to demand conditions of service and better working conditions respectively.<\/p>\n The\u00a0University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) have also laid down their tools to demand the payment of their books and research allowances<\/span><\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n