Organised Labour Declares Nationwide Demonstrations
Organised Labour, led by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) say they will go ahead with their planned nationwide action since government "has lost touch with the economic and social realities of Ghana and of Ghanaians"
Labour is asking government to among other things, withdraw the Energy Sector Levy which it believes had resulted in an ‘astronomical’ and ‘unjustified’ increases in prices of petroleum products.
"The PURC and government announced steep increases in utility tariff of 59.2 percent for electricity and 67.2 percent for water. This was at a time Ghanaians were preparing for Christmas with all the difficulties that has come to be associated with the period. That perhaps was unpleasant and unwelcome Christmas gift to Ghanaians. Then right after Christmas, Ghanaians were met with New Year package of astronomical increase in fuel prices ostensibly emanating from an energy sector levies Act that was rushed through parliament under a certificate of urgency at a time parliament was all set for Christmas...Organized Labour wrote officially to government and we have since had series of meetings in an attempt to have an amicable settlement. Our last meeting with government ended inconclusively at the Flagstaff House yesterday" a statement issued on Friday indicated.
The statement further noted that "we are left with no other option but to proceed with our planned nationwide actions to express our outrage with the avalanche of insensitive increase in taxes, levies and utility prices at this time of the year when workers and the average Ghanaian is at their most difficult economic ebb. These actions are intended principally to get government to reduce the utility tariffs and to withdraw the ‘killer’ Energy Sector Levies Art...Organised Labour is therefore declaring nationwide demonstrations on 20th January 2016 starting at 8:00am".
Read full statement below
ORGANISED LABOUR PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE RECENT INCREASES IN UTILITY TARIFFS AND THE ENERGY SECTION LEVIES 15TH JANUARY 2016, CLOSSAG HALL, ACCRA
Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, good morning and welcome to this Press Conference of Organised Labour made up of labour Unions and associations in Ghana.
You may recall that in December 2015, the PURC and government announced steep increases in utility tariff of 59.2 percent for electricity and 67.2 percent for water. This was at a time Ghanaians were preparing for Christmas with all the difficulties that has come to be associated with the period. That perhaps was unpleasant and unwelcome Christmas gift to Ghanaians. Then right after Christmas, Ghanaians were met with New Year package of astronomical increase in fuel prices ostensibly emanating from an energy sector levies Act that was rushed through parliament under a certificate of urgency at a time parliament was all set for Christmas.
Subsequently, Ladies and gentlemen, Organised Labour along with other civil society groups and indeed the generality of Ghanaians have complained and appealed to government to do something about the situation. Organized Labour wrote officially to government and we have since had series of meetings in an attempt to have an amicable settlement. Our last meeting with government ended inconclusively at the Flagstaff House yesterday.
As a result, we are left with no other option but to proceed with our planned nationwide actions to express our outrage with the avalanche of insensitive increase in taxes, levies and utility prices at this time of the year when workers and the average Ghanaian is at their most difficult economic ebb. These actions are intended principally to get government to reduce the utility tariffs and to withdraw the ‘killer’ Energy Sector Levies Art.
Ladies and gentlemen, our actions are informed by the simple fact that in our view, government has lost touch with the economic and social realities of Ghana and of Ghanaians. And that’s what happens to every government and country that leaves its economic and social policies to the dictate of the International Monetary Fund. And what are the facts?
This year government raised public sector wages by 10 percent. With inflation at near 17 percent there is an expected 7 percent decline in public sector earnings. For workers in the private sector, the prolonged energy crisis has meant that most worker have either lost their jobs or are on the verge of doing so. In such situations, wage increases are difficult to obtain, in fact in some cases they are off the table.
Organized labour is not in denial of the need for some increases in utility tariffs. However, given the current situation of Ghanaians, we firmly believe that the levels of the current increases are unbearable. And all we are asking government is to stagger the increases. This is not too much to ask.
Ladies and gentlemen, on the Energy Sector Levies Act, which has occasioned very high and unjustified increases in fuel prices, our view is that it is a desperate and insensitive attempt by government to squeeze everything out of the average Ghanaian. The Act flies in the face of the so-called deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector, which is intended to get government out of the way when it comes to the pricing of petroleum products. By stampeding the fuel price cost build-up with all these levies and taxes government is effectively denying Ghanaians of the recent falls in crude oil prices and the seeming stability of the exchange rate.
Besides, the Act is so badly written that one is at a loss why parliament could pass such a law. The law is open-ended, undefined and unspecified in several areas. It gives room for the perpetual collection of the so-called Tema Oil Refinery Levies, which this country has paid since 2001. Government continues to talk about Legacy Debts, which Ghanaians need to pay, but it fails to tell us how the debt came about.
Aspects of the law dealing with investments in energy or exchange rate under recoveries are very unclear and untidy, to say the least. And strangely, even as we appealed to our compassionate President to do something about the original increases in utility tariffs by PURC he assented to an Energy Sector Levies Act, which actually imposed additional 10 percent increases in electricity tariffs. Therefore, for electricity we are no longer talking about 59.2 percent, it is now 69.2 percent. The President and Parliament have actually topped up the killer increases announced by the PURC.
Ladies and gentlemen, for water some consumers with low incomes who used to be on lifeline consumption are now being made to pay for increases exceeding 180 percent. This is not compassion it is something else.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is no relief for the formal sector worker who already pays majority of the direct taxes used to run this country and suffers from such punitive indirect taxes without commensurate increases in incomes or the basic public services that make this sacrifice worthwhile.
Again, businesses and industries including seamstresses, barbers and trotro and taxi drivers are reeling under the burden of increasing energy cost and workers and apprentices are being laid off as a result. Sadly, our Government decided to hide these increases from us, sneak it through parliament with no genuine debate. This is undemocratic! And though legal, this law is illegitimate. The failure of the checks and balances system meant to protect citizens and the silence of our MPs is too deafening and most disappointing. As we have said, that’s what happens when the IMF holds the stick; they subvert all democratic processes.
With our mandate to defend working people, the weak and vulnerable in our society, we have no option than to take our concerns to the streets as a first step hoping that Government will listen.
Ladies and gentlemen, Organised Labour is therefore declaring nationwide demonstrations on 20th January 2016 starting at 8:00am.
In Accra, we will converge at the Obra spot. For those in all other regional capitals, our regional representatives will inform you of the route for the demonstration.
We call on Ghanaians who believe in the Constitutional provision that our welfare and happiness should be paramount in Government policy are invited to join the demonstration. All those who believe that we cannot and we should not allow our politicians, whether in Parliament or the Executive, to take us for granted and impose all sorts of levies, taxes and fees and prices on us without recourse to our plight and economic circumstance should come out and join us.
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