Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo has disclosed that government does not have the capacity to employ more public servants.<\/p>\n
According to him, the sector is full and government might even be forced to lay off some workers if the need arises.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the 2017 Ghana Economic Forum on Monday Mr. Maafo said \u201cthe public sector is full in terms of employment [and] we can\u2019t employ anybody in the public sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”Lr4IpZbDiLOrm7iTGBqDU4cJcBYyqJ7t”]Mr. Maafo\u2019s remark seems to be in sharp contrast to declarations by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) when they were in opposition.<\/p>\n
The NPP heavily criticized the then Mahama government for freezing recruitment into the public sector and accusing them of covering up with the 3-year IMF agreement.<\/p>\n
Mr. Maafo who conceded that Ghana\u2019s economy is currently in a mess stressed that the public service was\u201cfull\u201d and \u201cperhaps we may have to even lay some [workers] off.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senior Minister also said Ghana currently has 20 public and 75 private universities \u00a0and that it will be very difficult to employ students from the tertiary institutions saying this situation could be averted \u201cif the private sector grows, if the private sector expands, if the private sector becomes prosperous.\u201d<\/p>\n
He further urged industry leaders, and the business community to partner government to establish furnish tertiary institutions with state of the art laboratories to enable them train more researches and engineers for the country adding that \u201cif we do not get our minds set into this direction, we are heading for trouble as a country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two day event which will end on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 is themed: \u201cBuilding a Ghanaian owned economy, 60 years after independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Maafo at the event highlighted four areas he said government was keen in developing to boost the Ghanaian economy.<\/p>\n
These he said included improving Ghana\u2019s micro economic stability, massive infrastructure development, accelerated industrial development and agriculture transformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese four thematic areas should be able to change the complete face of our economy and I\u2019m sure with your support \u2013 captains of industry, the banks, we should be able to accomplish this as a cooperative effort for the sake of Ghana. Let us think about future generations. This generation should lay forever a foundation that will make Ghana a centre of industry in West Africa,\u201d he urged.<\/p>\n
The two day event which will end on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 is themed: \u201cBuilding a Ghanaian owned economy, 60 years after independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four strategies to boost Ghana’s economy<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr. Maafo at the event also for the domestication of the Ghanaian economy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhat are we doing to domesticate that production? Our location even in West Africa is even central; all these should speak to us. Let us resolve to get the economy resolved once and for all. Let us remove this tag of irreversibility on our head that Ghana will do well for some time and later we reverse to the bottom then we climb again to the top that cannot do. Once we set on motion and moving we should make it impossible for any government to reverse that motion. And that is why we are looking at the fiscal responsibility law, so you can\u2019t come and run the deficit anyhow. There should be a law restricting you,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
\n