Dr Anthony Yaw Baah
THE
TRADES Union Congress (TUC) has proposed the establishment of a Labour Bank
that will support Ghanaian workers with the acquisition of decent housing and
soft loans among other welfare issues.
Dr
Anthony Yaw Baah, Secretary-General of TUC, who made the appeal, said his
outfit was still undertaking feasibility studies and had already dispatched two
persons to Japan to understudy how that country implemented its Labour Bank
model.
He
was speaking at a forum jointly organised by the TUC, GEA and AGI, to discuss
the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy Statement and recommend a
bipartite position as well as see how best they could approach government to
factor their concerns into the budget implementation.
The
partners are expected to meet the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, early next
year at the Social Partnership Council platform to make known their concerns.
He
said the TUC would have further engagements with the Japanese Mission, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and Finance Ministry, as well as
the Ghana Employers Association (GEA) and the Association of Ghana Industry
(AGI) towards the operation of the bank.
Currently,
there is a labour bank in Ghana providing loans and other welfare services for
personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces.
Mary
Karimu, Deputy Director of Labour Research and Policy Institute of the TUC,
while making a presentation on TUC’s observations on the Budget Statement,
commended government for the proposal to establish a National Development Bank
and the decision not to roll out new taxes.
The
TUC said the increase in fuel prices and utility tariffs had eroded the economic
gains registered by government, hence the inability of majority of Ghanaians to
experience any impact on their lives.
The
union also expressed disquiet over the high lending rate which was stifling
businesses and urged government to find innovative ways to reduce it to the
barest minimum.
It
cited, an instance, where government directed the Consolidated Banks to charge
only 11.6 per cent interest rate on loans, insisting that it was possible to
bring down the interest rate from the current figure of 25 per cent to a single
digit like what pertains in Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.
The
TUC expressed concerns about the over-liberalized trade policy allowing dumping
of cheap foreign products on the local markets and thus, called for controlled
measures to protect the local industries,
More
so, the union said the 50 per cent reduction of the benchmark values had not
resulted in reduction of prices for goods and services, but rather benefited
importers at the detriment of the general populace.
It
urged government to re-examine the tax exemption regime for multinational
companies operating in the country and requested that more stakeholder
consultation is needed for the new Tax Exemption Policy Draft Document to make
it more holistic and relevant.
The
TUC disagreed with government’s decision to export specialized nurses to
Barbados and other foreign countries and asked whether the nation had surplus
nurses that warranted the export.
