Editor in chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper has said workers cannot be blamed for demanding salary increases in an economy said to be ailing.
Malik Kweku Baako Jnr. in a rather sarcastic manner said, if the economy is in shambles “Na who cause am?”
Speaking on Joy FM and MultiTV news analysis programme Newsfile on Saturday, the newspaper editor insists there are people who are tasked to manage the economy and if they are failing, they must be held to account.
He was contributing to the 14.5% minimum wage increase announced Friday.
Labour had requested a 20 per cent increase in the minimum wage to cushion them from the hardships, but government and employers say they were not ready to pay.
After thorough negotiation, the tripartite committee agreed to increase salaries by 14.5.
Deputy Interior Minister James Agalga on Newsfile said the workers cannot insist on their “pound of flesh” in such difficult times.
He said, “the timing for the demand for an increase is unrealistic,” adding “if we continue to yield to the TUC in the manner in which we have done, what will we do to the informal sector?”
“They should understand that we are in difficult times” he pleaded and went ahead to question the motives of the TUC.
“If they issue ultimatums for salary increases then you start asking what are their true intentions?”
Agalga insisted, labour over the past few years has had salaries quadrupled and must begin to be sensitive to the difficult situation at hand.
He said labour must begin to think about increasing productivity to arrest the economy from its decline.
But in a quick rebuttal, Kweku Baako Jnr. insisted the government must take the responsibility for mismanaging the economy.
He doubted if there is a TUC representative on the economic management team, saying if the economy has failed, the economic management team must be held to account.
He said the “fiscal and monetary indiscipline” the “high interest rates,” the “energy crisis” are all symptoms of a failed economy and labour has little to do with that.
“It is those who we have entrusted with the management of the economy that must be blamed” he indicated.