Public sector is full and govt may lay off workers - Osafo Maafo (August 8, 2017)
The Ghanaian economy as it is today cannot support new employment opportunities in the public sector as it is choked, the Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, has said.
Giving hints of a possible downsizing in the public sector under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme, he said the government might consider laying off some workers in the public sector.
Currently, the public sector is estimated to be employing more than 700,000 workforce.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the sixth Ghana Economic Forum organised by the Business and Financial Times, he said the solution to the country’s graduate unemployment was a vibrant private sector.
The Senior Minister’s comments come at a time graduate unemployment is high in Ghana with private nurses and graduates of colleges of agriculture recently on the neck of government to employ them.
The statement also invokes memories of the 2015 when the Mahama Administration and the then running mate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, jabbed the government for planning job cuts as part of the IMF Programme.
The Mahama Administration in a rebuttal had stated that the programme was about the rationalisation of the workforce and not downsizing.
The IMF Staff Report issued in April 2015 said in part: "The Government will undertake, with the assistance of development partners, a comprehensive plan to rationalise the size and increase the efficiency of the civil service and allied services on the payroll. The related strategic plan will be ready in December 2015, the results of which will inform the actual rationalisation of staff, which is expected to begin in 2017."
Interestingly, in April this year, the Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia assured public service workers of no lay-offs even though government has committed itself to completing the IMF programme.
According to him, the issue of worker lay-offs has not been brought to the table during government’s discussions with the IMF mission.
Ghana Economic Forum
The Ghana Economic Forum is an annual platform that brings together policy makers and the business community to deliberate on key economic development issues and also suggest possible solutions.
It was on the theme “ Ghanaian-Owned Economy: 60 Years After Independence.”
Diagnosing the unemployment challenges in the country, the Senior Minister traced the situation partly to courses being taught in the universities.
Giving hints of a possible downsizing in the public sector under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme, he said the government might consider laying off some workers in the public sector.
Currently, the public sector is estimated to be employing more than 700,000 workforce.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the sixth Ghana Economic Forum organised by the Business and Financial Times, he said the solution to the country’s graduate unemployment was a vibrant private sector.
The Senior Minister’s comments come at a time graduate unemployment is high in Ghana with private nurses and graduates of colleges of agriculture recently on the neck of government to employ them.
The statement also invokes memories of the 2015 when the Mahama Administration and the then running mate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, jabbed the government for planning job cuts as part of the IMF Programme.
The Mahama Administration in a rebuttal had stated that the programme was about the rationalisation of the workforce and not downsizing.
The IMF Staff Report issued in April 2015 said in part: "The Government will undertake, with the assistance of development partners, a comprehensive plan to rationalise the size and increase the efficiency of the civil service and allied services on the payroll. The related strategic plan will be ready in December 2015, the results of which will inform the actual rationalisation of staff, which is expected to begin in 2017."
Interestingly, in April this year, the Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia assured public service workers of no lay-offs even though government has committed itself to completing the IMF programme.
According to him, the issue of worker lay-offs has not been brought to the table during government’s discussions with the IMF mission.
Ghana Economic Forum
The Ghana Economic Forum is an annual platform that brings together policy makers and the business community to deliberate on key economic development issues and also suggest possible solutions.
It was on the theme “ Ghanaian-Owned Economy: 60 Years After Independence.”
Diagnosing the unemployment challenges in the country, the Senior Minister traced the situation partly to courses being taught in the universities.
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