Organised Labour has declared its intent to escalate actions beyond a nationwide strike over the sale of SSNIT’s stake in hotels to public officials, vowing to hold the government accountable on various national issues.
Eric Agbe-Carbonu, President of the Ghana National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), expressed frustration that their previous silence has been misinterpreted as complacency.
He stated, “If yesterday we did not raise our voice, we want to assure everybody today moving forward, you will hear our voice on pertinent issues,” during an interview with Evans Mensah on Joy News’ PM Express.
On Monday, July 15, organised labour suspended its strike, initially launched to protest SSNIT’s plan to sell 60% shares in four hotels to a private firm owned by Food and Agriculture Minister Bryan Acheampong.
This suspension was announced by Trades Union Congress (TUC) Secretary General Dr. Yaw Baah at a news conference following an emergency meeting.
He stated that SSNIT has been given one month to resolve all outstanding pension issues or “they will advise themselves.”
Mr Agbe-Carbonu stated that it was never their intention to hold the country hostage but stressed the necessity of speaking out against abuses of power.
Addressing questions about their silence on national issues like illegal mining, locally known as ‘galamsey’, he pointed to the involvement of influential figures.
“It is the powerful people behind it, not the boys and girls we arrest in the gravel pits, who are responsible for the galamsey. It is the people we have given power to. It is like the drug trade; it is not the people who are arrested on the streets who are funding the drug trade. It is the men and women behind the scenes, the mafia bosses and so on,” he said.
He called on other professional associations to join their cause for the betterment of the country.
“And we want other people to come on board, we do not want the Ghana Bar Association to be docile and tell us that they don’t want to talk politics. They should come on board.
“We want the media to come on board. We want everybody to come on board because this is the only country that we have.”
Source: Myjoyonline
