Accra, Jan. 20, GNA – Africa Public and
Civil Service Union Network (APACSUN) has expressed indignation that large
proportion of workers on the continent are not covered under the social
security systems, especially for the informal sector.
APACSUN has, therefore, resolved to support
member unions to study and adopt best practices that enable the improvement of
pension administration and benefits for members.
This was in a communique the Network issued
at the end of its Second Strategic Meeting in Ghana from January 15 to 17,
signed by Mr Isaac Bampoe Addo, the Executive Secretary of the Civil and Local
Government Staff Association Ghana (CLOGSAG) and copied to the Ghana News
Agency in Accra on Monday.
The Communique said the Network would embark
on campaigns to ensure greater representation of workers on boards that
administered and managed pensions and support review of pension legislations
for prudent management of funds.
It will build coalitions with other social
forces to condemn and resist the privatisation agenda at the national and
regional levels that have so far failed to deliver.
The Communique said it would provide graphic
evidence of the failure of the privatisation experiment and the Private Public
Partnership (PPP) variant and showcase alternative policies that are delivering
public services and increasing citizens’ access to quality.
“Taking cognisance of the comparatively
reasonable numbers in the public and civil services, low participation, poor
and limited benefits resulting from bad investments and poor management of
funds by Pension administrators have left most workers in a very sorry state at
retirement,” it stated.
The Communique acknowledged some attempts at
ensuring reforms for successful pension but noted that those measures did not
make adequate provisions for cross cutting issues such as housing, elderly
care, maternity protection and health care for workers during active service
and upon retirement.
It noted that the United Nations Agenda 2030
on “Sustainable Development,” and the Africa Union Agenda 2063 on “the Africa
We Want,” all underscored the absolute centrality of access to public services
to all peoples.
According to the Communique notwithstanding
the glaring failure of the privatisation experiment over the last three
decades, governments in Africa continued to succumb to the various variants of
privatisation, especially PPP arrangements.
The Public and Civil servants constitute a
substantial proportion of the formal workforce in most countries in Africa with
most spending their entire working life in the service.
The Network is made up Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria
and Tanzania with members including CLOGSAG, Public Services Workers’ Union
Senior Staff Association of Judicial Service of Ghana, Union of Kenya Civil
Servants, and Kenya Union of Commercial, Food and Allied Workers.
The rest are Nigeria Civil Service Union and
Tanzania Union of Government and Health Employees.
GNA