Paying presidential spouses ‘criminal!’, what kind of nonsense is this?

It is “criminal” and nonsensical to wives of President Nana Akufo-Addo and Vice-president Mahamudu Bawumia, Mr Abraham Koomson, General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour has told Ewura Adams Karim on Class91.3FM’s ‘Talk of the Nation’ on Monday, 12 June 2021.

“I can’t understand”, he fumed, adding that for a president who promised not to increase his salary as well as those of his ministers during this year’s May Day celebration, “if you are going to pay your wife, what kind of dishonesty is this?”

“Everybody is annoyed”, he said to a question about how the labour front is taking the news that the two presidential spouses are to be paid cabinet-level salaries which are to be backdated to 2017.

“The workers are even attacking us; they are even insulting us that we go to agree on six per cent, four per cent [pay rise] without considering their plight then we sit down, we fold our arms for the presidency to allocate – as if all these monies – and the annoying thing is that they are going to pay them ‘back-pay’ since 2017”, an angry Mr Koomson noted.

“It is criminal”, he insisted.

“If you think of it, you may not believe that you’re even alive. I think it’s even a dream”.

He said “workers are agitated” about it but there are some groups whose “executives are compromised and even if you push them to talk, they’ll say: ‘Oh, this is political. Nonsense. Political. But what work are we doing?”

“What is the mission of the trade unions? Our relevance has been eroded and very soon workers will decide not to join any union at all. It will happen”, he predicted.

In his view, “the youth must wake up and ask their leaders questions”.

“Are you happy with what is happening? I’ll continue to talk. What kind of nonsense is this?”