The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has urged the government to review the country’s trade policies to support the growth of Ghanaian-owned businesses.
Its statement comes on the back of the ensuing confusion between Ghanaian business owners and their Nigerian counterparts over the involvement of the latter in the local retail market.
TUC, at its General Council meeting on December 18 and 19, 2019 at Kasoa said the country’s current trade policies seem to disadvantage Ghanaians in favour of foreigners.
At the congress, the TUC also called on the government to prioritize job creation and livelihood empowerment.
“Council urged government to prioritise job creation and livelihood empowerment and called for review of Ghana trade policy which seems to disadvantage Ghanaians in favour of foreigners, reduce the cost of doing business in Ghana, and provide support for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs),” the TUC said in a communiqué.
Other issues
On issues of pensions, and developments at the country’s ports and the railways sector which were all highlighted in the communiqué, TUC said it was worried that their tier-two pensions might not have generated enough returns since it was not invested for a long period.
They also said the challenges with SSNIT’s data and issues of computation of past credit made it necessary for a national stakeholder forum to be held on the subject to ensure that pensioners.
“After a very intensive discussion, the Council affirmed the earlier call by the TUC for a stakeholder forum on the second-tier to discuss and agree on the way forward. The Council also reiterated TUC’s position that no pensioner should be made worse-off as a result of the pension reforms because the main objective of the reforms was to enhance retirement income and not to worsen it,” the communiqué said.
On the railway sector, the TUC said it was impressed with the developments within the sector especially with regards to the pre-financing of the contract for the construction of railway lines from Kojokrom to Eshiem.
“The Council called for timely completion of the processes especially for the award of contract from Kojokrom to Awaso so that other commodities such as bauxite and cocoa could be hauled as a means of sustaining Ghana Railway Company Limited,” the TUC said.
TUC said it is satisfied with the agreement between Meridian Port Services (MPS) and Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to allow GPHA to handle 20 percent of container cargo at the Tema Port which it believes will help minimize the labour unrest within the maritime industry.
