The Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has reiterated its opposition to any attempt by the Government to privatise the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
The TUC in its comment on the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policies of the Government recalled that in 2017, in their submission to the then Akufo-Addo Government in response to its first budget they stated their opposition to the intended privatisation of ECG.
In that submission, the TUC served notice that the working people of Ghana and their unions would resist any attempt by the Government to privatise strategic state assets.
In 2025, in the TUC’s submission to the Mahama Government, they reiterated their opposition to “privatisation of state-owned enterprises in all their forms and shapes”.
“We further stated that “In line with the resolution passed at the 10th Quadrennial Delegates Congress of TUC held in August 2016, we will resist any attempt to privatise ECG,” the TUC stated.
“We emphasize that the “TUC and its affiliates consider privatisation and private sector participation as one and the same”.
It said notwithstanding their opposition, the Government appears hell-bent on privatizing ECG.
It said the TUC and its affiliates remain resolute in their conviction that strategic reforms including getting politics and politicians off the back of ECG was the only viable route out of whatever challenges the company faces.
“Our resolve to resist privatisation or private sector participation is at an all-time high.
The TUC said the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policies of Government comes on the heels of multiple challenges that confront the Ghanaian economy and the people of Ghana.
It noted that more than three years after COVID-19 ended, economic growth was only beginning to recover. Inflation remains high.
“Cost-of-living has skyrocketed. Real incomes have fallen for most workers. Joblessness is rampant, particularly among young people. The national debt stock is unsustainable despite the debt exchange programme,” it said.
“Some of these challenges have persisted over several years. They emanate from the neo-liberal economic management framework that Ghana has pursued in the last four decades.”
The TUC said the 2025 budget was expected to reset the framework for managing the economy declaring it failed to do so even after recognizing the need to reset the economic model.
The TUC urges the government to work with all stakeholders to change the current macroeconomic framework.
It said Ghana needs a new model of economic management that seeks to qualitatively change the structure of the economy.
The TUC underscored that employment creation must be at the centre of economic policy and that Ghana needs to derive maximum benefits from its natural resources.
“This will enable Government to fund national development from domestic revenues, obviate the need for borrowing and reduce our debt burden,” it said.
Source : myjoyonline
