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