Organised Labour has announced a nationwide strike set to commence on October 10, 2024, due to the government’s inaction regarding their demands related to illegal mining, often referred to as galamsey.
During an emergency meeting on Tuesday, October 10, members of Organised Labour voiced their disappointment over the government’s failure to respond to their concerns.
Previously, they had issued a deadline of the end of September for the government to implement effective measures against illegal mining activities, which they contend pose significant risks to both the environment and the livelihoods of numerous Ghanaians.
Secretary General of the TUC, Joshua Ansah, stated that the government’s lack of action has compelled them to take this drastic step.
“Following the expiration of our deadline, and the failure of the government to meet our demands on illegal mining, Organised Labour has decided to declare a nationwide strike with effect from October 10, 2024.”
BREAKING: Organised labour declares nationwide strike on Oct 10
Black Stars | Owusu Bempah | 5k USD | Black Stars | Sarkodie | Clergy | Serwaa | Pentecost | Bro to Bro | #tigpostpic.twitter.com/rfgbQDHRHN
The Ghana Federation of Labour has reported that the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) is continuing discussions to sell its stake in four hotels to Rock City Hotel, owned by the Minister of Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, despite an ongoing petition before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
This development was revealed shortly after the Minority in Parliament, led by North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and representatives of organized labour staged a protest urging the government to halt the transaction.
In an interview with JoyNews, Secretary General of the Ghana Federation of Labour, Abraham Koomson, expressed his dismay at SSNIT’s persistence.
“They have not stopped it. You know how things work in this country. For CHRAJ, how soon will they finish this? CHRAJ cannot injure the process, I don’t think they can do that. They don’t have that authority to injunct the process so they will still go ahead and do what they want to do.”
Koomson added that the Federation would boycott an upcoming meeting with the President to show their displeasure.
“We are going to meet and discuss what? What we are saying is that stop the process. They should not continue, they should wait or stop it. That is all. We are going to meet him so he tells us what? I will not be part of it. I won’t go there. I won’t go.
“I don’t know what I am going there to discuss. It is as simple as telling the Employment Minister that ‘look, make sure this whole process is stopped’,” he stressed.
In May, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa exposed the deal, questioning why SSNIT would sell 60% of its stake in the hotels to a minister. While some government officials and citizens defended Acheampong, arguing he could revitalize the hotels, Ablakwa remained skeptical.
Ablakwa emphasized the lack of evidence supporting Acheampong’s ability to enhance the performance of the state-owned hotels, some of which are already profitable. He further criticized Acheampong for not using his expertise for the public good while serving as a cabinet minister.
“… If you have such great ideas to transform hotels, Bryan Acheampong sits in Cabinet. Why do we send people to Cabinet? Under the constitution, Cabinet is a place where you brainstorm and bring your expertise and know-how to bear. So why will you only bring your expertise to bear when it is your private property when you have bought it, when you have annexed it and it is within your private domain?
“Is that the only time you will bring that expertise to bear? Is that not unpatriotic? Is that not callousness?” he questioned.
He continued, “That is not being nationalistic. Why then are we paying you as a cabinet minister? It means we shouldn’t pay you, you shouldn’t be in Cabinet. This is the height of wickedness,” he noted.
Labour Analyst, Seth Abloso has voiced concerns regarding the ongoing debate surrounding the sustainability of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), citing significant political interference in its management.
Speaking with Johnnie Hughes on 3FM Sunrise Morning Show, Abloso stressed, “It means SSNIT has not been managed to the expectation of its membership, and it’s clear. There is too much political interference in the management of SSNIT.”
Mr Abloso pointed to recent events within SSNIT, particularly the sudden removal of the Director-General, suggesting underlying issues.
“Only recently a Director-General was given the marching orders. The tone of the letter that asked him to go home clearly indicates that something was terribly wrong, and that thing will forever haunt him and his credibility.”
Regarding the appointment of a new Director-General, Mr Abloso noted inconsistencies, stating, “We were then told quickly that he has done nothing wrong. But the letter that sent him home, the first paragraph made reference to the appointment letter by the Public Services Commission. But in announcing the replacement, we didn’t see the Public Services Commission involved,” he said.
Furthermore, Abloso criticized the appointment of a Deputy Director-General allegedly associated with past controversial projects.
“They appointed a Deputy Director-General who not long ago was involved in signing papers for a certain AGYAPA project, even while serving as Deputy Director-General and without resigning from SSNIT,” he asserted.
Mr Abloso underscored the negative impact of political interference on SSNIT’s operations, urging vigilance from the labor force.
“You pushed him, a deputy Director-General who not too long ago was signing papers for a certain AGYAPA project even whilst he was Deputy Director-General and hasn’t resigned from SSNIT,” he stated.
“Political interference has been a source of anguish for SSNIT. The labor force should be deeply concerned,” he emphasized.
He also referenced historical concerns over SSNIT’s regulations, mentioning previous audits and recommendations for prosecution.
“These troubling regulations were highlighted in 2021. A forensic audit of SSNIT was commissioned by Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the then Finance Minister, conducted by Deloitte Worldwide Investment and other consultants,” he disclosed.
In conclusion, Abloso stressed the importance of accountability and transparency in SSNIT’s management, urging stakeholders to address the systemic issues affecting the institution.
Organized labour is expected to meet government today to continue negotiations on the proposal for a 60 percent increment in the base pay of the single spine salary structure for 2023.
Organized labour says the proposed 60 percent is intended to help workers deal with the rising cost of living as a result of high inflation.
The third meeting with government on Tuesday ended inconclusively, although the 2023 budget reading has been scheduled for Thursday, November 24, 2022.
Deputy General Secretary of TUC, Joshua Ansah, said their demands are reasonable.
“The law says that, finish negotiations by April so that the budget is read in November. So it is not our fault that negotiations have not been concluded and whether or not the budget will be read or not. We are all workers, and we know the inflation and economic challenges in this country. The situation is unbearable.”
The public sector workers explained that the daily base pay is lower than the government’s newly announced daily minimum wage of GH¢14.88.
Organised labour insists that its leadership will not back down on the proposed 60 percent rise in base pay.
In 2021, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) agreed on the base pay increments for public sector workers, as part of labour negotiations with the government.
However, after the agreement, some members of the labour unions expressed their disappointment at the percentage increase, saying it was too small.
Members of a coalition made up of public sector workers thus protested in 2021 to express their anger and demand an upward review of public sector salaries.
They insisted that the four and seven per cent increment were woefully inadequate for their survival, considering the current economic hardship.
Reeves is asked if she believes Labour can close all of the tax loopholes necessary to fund public services.
She asserts that “there’s an awful lot you can get,” including windfall taxes, the global minimum rate of corporation tax, and changes to non-dom status proposed by Labour.
She says: “The Tories keep coming back to working people and asking them to pay more and do little to close these loopholes that mean some of most wealthy people and businesses in society are still not paying their fair share.”
She adds: “That is the difference between what Jeremy Hunt will be doing on Thursday and what I would be doing if I was Chancellor of the Exchequer.”
Asked if that’s a guarantee that Labour would not put income taxes up, she says: “I’m not going to write my manifesto for the Labour Party on this programme but I’ve got no plans to increase income tax.”
The National Labour Commission (NLC) has ordered the three teacher unions to immediately call off their strike and continue negotiations with the government.
The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations referred the impasse between them and the striking unions to the NLC due to the refusal of the Teacher Unions to call off their strike.
The Teacher Unions declared a sit-down strike on Friday, November 4, to protest the appointment of Dr Eric Nkansah as the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service.
The unions said Dr Nkansah was a banker and not a professional teacher, hence their call for his removal.
The Unions are the Ghana National Association of Teachers, the National Association of Graduate Teachers and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana.
The strike has hampered academic work at pre-tertiary institutions.
Education Minister Yaw Adutwum and Dr Eric Nkansah
The Deputy Employment Minister, Dr Bright Wereko Brobby, speaking to the Media after the meeting, said the Unions did not follow the right channels before declaring the strike and have been ordered to resume work and properly engage the government for a resolution to their demands.
The teacher unions expressed their unhappiness and unwillingness to work with the new GES D-G and called on the government to rescind its decision.
The Times reports that, Mr Johnson has nominated two of his loyal advisers – Ross Kempsell, the Conservative Party‘s former political director, and Charlotte Owen, the former PM’s former assistant – to become the youngest life peers in history.
Labour has called on Rishi Sunak to block Boris Johnson’s “conveyer belt of cronies” resignation peerages.
Scotland Secretary Alister Jack, former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, former minister Nigel Adams and the outgoing COP26 President Alok Sharma are among those expected to be nominated by the former prime minister to be elevated to the House of Lords.
The Times newspaper also reports that Mr Johnson has nominated two of his loyal advisers – Ross Kempsell, the Conservative Party’s former political director and Charlotte Owen, a former assistant to the former PM – to become the youngest life peers in history.
A source close to Mr Johnson said: “We never comment on speculation about honours.”
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the prime minister should “refuse to do Boris Johnson’s bidding” and reject his demands.
“This disgraced ex-prime minister’s plot to dodge democracy by trying to reward his MP lackeys with promised jobs for life in the House of Lords yet again puts the Tory Party’s interests before the public’s,” she said in a statement.
“These underhand attempts to game the system by installing a conveyor belt of cronies and skewing parliament in the Tories’ favour for decades to come should never see the light of day.
“Rishi Sunak should make it clear in no uncertain terms that he will refuse to do Boris Johnson’s bidding and reject his disreputable demands.”
Earlier today, a Conservative MP criticised those nominated by Mr Johnson for peerages.
“What a shameful list of bootlickers, bimbos and tropical island holiday facilitators who between them can be proud to have pushed trust in politics to an extreme low during their tenures and offered very little in return to the British people,” they told Sky News.
The politicians on the list are all understood to have agreed to delay heading to the Lords until the end of the current parliament to spare Mr Sunak the challenges of by-elections.
How the peerages for MPs would be delayed was unclear, but the suggestion was that the King would have to approve the arrangement, in a move appearing to be without precedent.
Shaun Bailey, the former London mayoral candidate who faced a backlash for attending a mid-lockdown Christmas party, was also said to be on the former prime minister’s list.
The prime minister’s resignation honours are distinctions granted by an outgoing prime minister.
A PM can request the reigning monarch to grant peerages, knighthoods, damehoods or other awards in the British honours system to any number of people.
A meeting between the leadership of three striking teacher unions and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to deliberate on a decision by the unions to lay down their tools ended inconclusively on Monday.
This is the second time the two parties have failed to reach a consensus over the impasse.
The meeting is expected to be held later today, Tuesday, November 8, 2022, to address the concerns of the teachers.
The unions including the Ghana National Association of Teachers, the National Association of Graduate Teachers and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers have laid down their tools following the appointment of Dr. Eric Nkansah as Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES).
Meanwhile, some students want government and teacher unions to immediately resolve the stalemate for academic work to resume.
The teacher groups say, they will not call off the strike until government addresses their concerns.
Since the appointment of Dr. Eric Nkansah on October 19, the unions have opposed the move, arguing that the new GES Director-General does not qualify to occupy the position.
But the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum had defended the appointment saying that the accusations of the teacher unions were unfounded.
The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations has started engagements with the teachers to end the strike.
Their meetings have so far been unable to resolve the teachers’ concerns.
After Home Secretary Suella Braverman used the word “invasion” to describe the migration crisis in the Commons yesterday, a YouGov survey has found that 44% of Britons felt the word was “inappropriate”.
The survey of 4,790 adults in the UK also found that 43% felt the word was “appropriate”.
Meanwhile, 76% of Conservative voters felt the word was “appropriate” and 16% believed using the term was “inappropriate”.
When it came to Labour voters, 16% said the word was “appropriate” and 74% felt that using the term was “inappropriate”.
The home secretary has said that southern England is facing an “invasion” of migration. Do you think this wording is appropriate or inappropriate?
Labouris saying the Conservatives are still a “divided and chaotic party” despite the accession of Rishi Sunak as prime minister.
Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden told Sky News that today’s reshuffle will be “another round of ministerial chairs being moved around”.
Mr McFadden said this was now not just affecting politics, “but it’s now affecting people in their pockets”.
While Labour wants to a general election, Mr McFadden said that will only happen if Mr Suank agrees to it, “so as much as I’d like to see one, he probably won’t have one”.
Asked about how Mr Sunak – as a multimillionaire – would be able to implement restrictive economic policy, Mr McFadden says he did not think personal wealth was something to harp on – and he prefers to talk about policies.
If Rishi Sunak is elected, one of the first big concerns he will face is appointing a new defence secretary.
Of course, we don’t yet know who will be in his cabinet, but as think tank chief Torsten Bell points out, the present (and popular) Defence Secretary Ben Wallace’s stance on defence expenditure may complicate matters.
Unless Ben Wallace finds himself a climb down strategy the first crisis of this new government could be losing the defence secretary. We ain’t going to be spending 3% of GDP on defence
Mr Wallace, one of the most experienced and well-regarded members of the cabinet, has campaigned hard for increases in defence spending.
One of Liz Truss’s key pledges had been to boost defence spending to 3% of national income by 2030.
But Jeremy Hunt – who is widely expected to stay on as chancellor when the new prime minister comes in – has refused to commit to this promise.
He said the Ministry of Defence would need to make additional savings, along with other departments.
Mr Sunak himself has also signalled he is unlikely to stand by the 3% spending promise.
He said this target was “arbitrary” and “not a plan”.
The former chancellor had also become embroiled in a row with Mr Wallace, with the latter claiming Mr Sunak had tried to block a multi-year settlement for the Armed Forces in 2019.
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, has written to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, asking him to table a motion of no confidence.
Writing to Sir Keir, Mr Blackford said: “As opposition leaders, we simply cannot stand idly by as the Tories attempt to impose their third prime minister in the space of three months. Now is the time to act.”
He added that the “rules of Westminster” means that only the leader of the Opposition – Sir Keir – can submit a formal no-confidence motion.
Mr Blackford acknowledges that the SNP and Labour will have different goals from the election but he hopes “we can act together to stop this shambles”.
The Tories cannot be allowed to impose a third Prime Minister without an election.
I’ve written to Keir Starmer making clear @theSNP will back a vote of no confidence in the Tory government if he tables it this week. We must put maximum pressure on Tory MPs to give voters a say. pic.twitter.com/r7uxjLcB8c
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats are trying to use a “presentation bill” to amend the law which repealed the Fixed Terms Parliament Act to call for a general election this year.
The likelihood of this working is probably quite slim.
Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal Democrats’ chief whip, said: “We future of our country cannot be left to another Conservative stitch-up. It must be in the hands of voters who deserve a say through a general election now.”
Hundreds of farmers in Asuboi, Ayensuano District, have benefited from the installation of a new cassava processing pavilion, housing three locally produced cassava processors, a pressing machine, a roasting area, and a storeroom.
The multi-purpose pavilion is intended to boost daily cassava processing productivity and improve working conditions for female cassava farmers in Asuboi and surrounding areas.
Ms Shlomit Sufa, the Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, commissioned the pavilion during the World Rural Women’s Day celebration, which was themed “Rural Women Using Technology to Improve Food for All.”
She said the cassava processor technology had the potential to improve the work of women cassava farmers while adding value to cassava products.
Small-scale farmers in Ghana contribute significantly to the country’s overall agricultural output, with most of the small-scale farmers and fishers being women who grow vegetables, cereals, and other food crops.
In cash crop production like cocoa, which is owned by men, women contribute significantly by using their labour to support weeding, harvesting, and transporting the final product to marketing centres.
Also, in manufacturing and agro processing, women in rural communities contribute to fish processing and cassava processing into gari, (agblima) cassava dough and starch.
Thus, Ms. Sufa commended Ghanaian women for their role in enhancing agricultural and rural development and improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.
“It is therefore important to celebrate as well as acknowledge the innovation and technologies that these women deploy in their daily work, especially in the agricultural sector,” she added.
The Asuboi Chief, Nana Ahyia Boateng, praised Israel for assisting women farmers in the community with the gari processing pavilion and machines, but implored for a mechanised borehole and a senior high school.
While acknowledging the contribution of Israel, Ms. Emelia Larbi and Grace Armah, both farmers, outlined many emerging crop and fish production problems that are impeding women’s ability to ensure sustainable farming.
Both expressed concern about how women farmers, particularly those growing plantain and cassava, were suffering because of rising farm input prices and the scarcity of weedicides and fertilisers.
“The fertilizer is too expensive and scarce; we can’t find any, and when we do, it’s too expensive; we can’t afford it.” Ms Larbi said. “Weedicides have also become prohibitively expensive, and we want something done about it.”
Besides that, she noted that sand winning and lack of ready markets for farm produce were de-motivating many rural women farmers, forcing many young people to migrate to urban areas to look for work.
“Due to these challenges, our children do not want to stay with us in rural areas, but rather leave for urban centres because they do not want to go through these challenges,” Ms. Armah explained.
“The fear is that if nothing is done, it will lead to food shortages in the near future.”
The women also expressed concern about the exorbitant cost of premix fuel, which had become prohibitively expensive for women farmers and inaccessible to farmers.
The idea of designating a special day to honour rural women was first proposed in 1995 at the fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.
In this regard, October 15 was designated as “World Rural Women’s Day,” coinciding with World Food Day, to highlight rural women’s role in food production and security.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr. Seth Acheampong, Eastern Regional Minister, acknowledged challenges such as access to farmlands and financing rural women farmers, but encouraged them to continue working toward food security.
He also urged farmers to resist the temptation to sell their land for gold mining, stating that “agricultural farming is the real gold, and thus our lands should be protected.”
The Development Action Association, a network of farmer-based organisations, celebrated the 2022 World Rural Women’s Day in collaboration with the Israeli embassy, GIZ Agribiz, and Yara fertiliser.
Labour had tried to drag Liz Truss into the Commons to answer this urgent question.
However, the government can decide who to send, and – perhaps unsurprisingly – the prime minister will not be responding.
In her place is Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt.
It’s an interesting choice given she is being pushed by some as a potential successor to the beleaguered PM.
Ms Mordaunt is one of the better Commons operators though and may earn a few brownie points with backbenchers by heading out to bat at this tricky moment.
Liz Truss’s lack of appearance will fuel discontent among some MPs though.
“She needs to own it, and is now back in hiding again,” said one.
The vanishing act won’t last forever either.
The prime minister will likely be in the Commons for Jeremy Hunt’s statement today and is set to face Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs on Wednesday.
Labour’s shadow chancellor,Rachel Reeves says, the government’s economic plan won’t result in annual growth of 2.5%.
Liz Truss, according to Ms. Reeves, does not understand how her policies are affecting the public.
“The prime minister just doesn’t seem to understand the anxiety and fear,” Ms Reeves told the BBC.
“This is a crisis made in Downing Street but it is ordinary working people who are paying the price.”
It has been suggested that the Truss administration is trying to use “tickle down economics” – the idea that tax cuts for the rich will create greater wealth in general, some of which will “trickle down” to those who are less well off.
It was announced in the mini-budget nine days ago that the top rate of tax – 45% – was being abolished.
But Ms Reeves commented: “The idea that trickle-down economics is somehow going to deliver the 2.5% growth we all want to see is for the birds.
“The prime minister and the chancellor are doing some sort of mad experiment with the UK economy and trickle-down economics.
“It has failed before and it will fail again.”
The prime minister has said that removing the top rate of tax was the chancellor’s idea.
But the chancellor’s spokesperson has said the pair are “in lockstep” on the issue (12.18 post).
A British Member of Parliament (MP) from the Labour Party, Rupa Huq, has been suspended by her party for alleged racist comments she made against British-born Ghanaian MP, Kwasi Kwarteng, who was recently appointed UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister).
According to news.sky.com, the party suspended Rupa Huq for describing Kwasi Kwarteng as a “superficially” black man, pending investigations.
The report indicated that the suspended MP made the racist comments against the chancellor in an audio recording posted online by the Guido Fawkes website.
“Superficially he is a black man. He went to Eton, I think, he went to a very expensive prep school, all the way through, the top schools in the country.
“If you hear him on the Today programme, you wouldn’t know he is black,” Rupa Huq was quoted to have said by news.sky.com.
The Labour Party condemned the remarks by the MP and urged her to apologise.
Rupa Huq in a post on social media indicated that she had contacted the UK finance minister to apologies to him in person for the comments she made.
“I have today contacted Kwasi Kwarteng to offer my sincere and heartfelt apologies for the comments I made at yesterday’s Labour conference fringe meeting.
“My comments were ill-judged and I wholeheartedly apologise to anyone affected,” the post she shared read.
Background on Kwesi Kwarteng:
Kwasi Kwarteng became the first black person to become UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) following his appointment by UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, on September 6, 2022.
Kwarteng was born Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng in Waltham Forest, East London, in May 1975 to Ghanaian parents, Alfred and Charlotte, who had both immigrated to the United Kingdom a decade earlier as students.
His parents, who went on to become an international economist and a barrister respectively, sent him to an expensive private prep school that produced numerous Cabinet-level politicians. He then attended the famous Eton college — a production line for British leaders including Boris Johnson and David Cameron.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwartengis accused of squandering a chance to lay out a “real response to the cost of living problem” by Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the opening of her keynote address at the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in Liverpool.
“What did we get instead?” she asks. “Tax cuts for the top 1%, increased bankers bonuses, and more than £50bn piled onto the national debt every single year.
“Sterling is down, that means higher prices as the cost of imports rise,” she says.
She adds that with the cost of government borrowing up, taxpayers’ money will go into paying off debt.
“The cost of borrowing for working people willnow go up too,” with higher mortgage repayments for families, she says.
“And all for what? Not to invest in industries of the future, not for our NHS, not for schools, but for tax cuts for the wealthiest, a return to trickle-down economics.”
