Labour Unions in Ghana have renewed calls for government to support the private sector.
This they believe will guarantee them job opportunities.
This follows the laying off of about 400 workers of a steel company in Tema, Rider Steel Ghana Limited over the company’s inability to pay for high electricity tariff.
According to the company, which is located within the Tema Export Processing Zone, it is being charged 52 pesewas per kilowatt hour of electricity by a privately owned power distribution company, Enclave Power Company (ECP), while other steel companies are charged 21 pesewas per kilowatt hour upon negotiation with the ECG.
The local unions believe the situation and other similar occurrences can be prevented if government participation is enhanced.
In an interview with Citi Business News, the General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), Solomon Kotei says government must step in and initiate ways to assist the private sector.
He explained that there are procedures that can be assessed to help in such situations, that render companies insolvent.
“Before any employer undertakes redundancy, they notify the chief labour officer who then also forwards the development to the Ministry of Employment and then it gets to the chief of government.
If some support or leverages can be given to these employers, looking at their interventions in the special sector then one will be able to monitor whether government is walking its own talk,” he said.
Mr. Kotei stated that government must always intervene by setting the appropriate conditions for the private sector to grow.
“If it is the private sector that is the engine of growth in the economy then what are we doing to those private sectors? For now we have not seen any help.” he stated.
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