Prioritizing cathedral is wrong, TUC
IMF will not solve Ghana’s problems, TUC
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has stated that it is waiting for the verdict of the International Monetary Fund on Ghana’s decision to build a National Cathedral.
Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah, said the cathedral should not be a priority for Ghana, especially at a time when the country is facing challenges.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Monday, July 18, “If you make a cathedral priority of priorities, there is something wrong with it. We will see. If we are in these hard times and cathedrals would be built when children cannot get free meals, when our SHS students cannot get food to eat in Ghana.
“There is something wrong and you are building a cathedral. So, we will see if the IMF will allow this cathedral thing to go on.”
Dr. Yaw Baah said going to the IMF is not a panacea to Ghana’s problems, instead, the judicious management of the county’s resources should be prioritized.
“Our main challenge with the management of the economy has to do with the corruption and failure on the part of successive governments to transform the structure of the economy of this country so that Ghanaians can produce what we eat and eat what we produce,” he said.
He added “Currently, the profit-making sectors, including mining, petroleum, and banking, are all in the hands of foreigners. I always ask my colleagues, why is it that Nigerian banks are all over the country but I cannot hear of any Ghanaian banks in Nigeria? IMF programs will not deal with these fundamentals. IMF programs, you know what they do?
“They only prepare the country for another IMF programme, that is why you go for one, two or three, four up to 18. So, this 18th programme is going to prepare Ghana for the 19th programme and the 19th one will prepare Ghana for the 20th. You know it is like that? so that IMF will be in business otherwise they have no business."
He also bemoaned the fact that any attempt to disadvantage labour as government goes to the IMF, will be resisted by congress.
“We know very well that the 18th programme that is being negotiated will not be different but I want to assure you all Ghanaians that what will be different is that TUC will lead the working people of Ghana to resist any attempts to impose hardships on workers and their families and the Ghanaian people because the IMF, the content of the programme will not be different but the resistance from the people of Ghana will make it different.”
Meanwhile, the IMF said it will help Ghana to resolve its challenges.
SSD/FNOQ
Dr. Yaw Baah is Secretary-General of the TUC