Organised Labour will today, Thursday, April 20, meet to consider the Ministry of Finance’s proposed Alternative Offer for Pension Funds.
The Ministry is said to have written to the Board of Trustees of Pension Funds for participation in the new debt restructuring programme.
However, some labour unions have served notice they will not participate in the programme just as resolved in December ahead of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
“UTAG reiterates its earlier resolve on the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme contained in a communique with reference UTAG/NAT/2022/EM-012 and dated 7th December 2022 that we are still unable to participate in any intervention that would worsen the plight of the already impoverished Ghanaian University Lecturer,” the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), for instance, said in a statement on Monday, April 17.
GNAT’s General Secretary Thomas Musah Tanko has also indicated same stance.
A Deputy Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Joshua Ansah, however, has called for an all-inclusive discussion on the matter.
According to government, the offer is necessary to save the economy from further decline.
Speaking on TV3‘s New Day on Wednesday, April 19, Government Spokesperson on Governance and Security Palgrave Boakye-Danquah insisted that the proposal is not a Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
“This is an alternative proposal [and] I will ask and plead with the pension bondholders to accept this offer.”
Experts have also said that the move is one of the conditionalities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before its Executive Board grants the $3 billion extended credit facility (ECF) sought by Ghana.
Organised Labour is expected to take a decision on the new proposal at Thursday’s meeting.