Former President John Dramani Mahama, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) have urged Ghanaian workers to remain resolute in their work in order to speed up development.

In separate goodwill messages to mark May Day last Saturday, the two political parties acknowledged the challenges confronting workers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic difficulties.

The separate messages were signed by the general secretaries of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, while that of the PNC was signed by Ms Janet Asana Nabla.

Criticisms

In his May Day message, former President Mahama criticised the government for what he described as worsening the plight of the citizenry with the introduction of new taxes.

The taxes include the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy Act, 2021 (Act 1068) which imposes a one per cent levy on the supply of goods and services made in the country other than exempt goods or services, the Financial Sector Recovery Levy Act, 2021 (Act 1067) which imposes a five per cent levy on the profit before tax of banks and the Energy Sector Levy (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Act 1064) which imposes an Energy Sector Recovery Levy of 20 pesewas per litre of petrol/diesel and 18 pesewas per kg on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and a Sanitation and Pollution Levy of 10 pesewas per litre of petrol and diesel respectively.

“Incidentally, an increase in existing taxes & introduction of new ones, and which take effect from today, May Day, is leading to steep rises in the prices of fuel, food & every basic item.

“This will worsen the plight of citizens even further. This is in addition to power outages and shortage of water in many homes, cities and municipalities.”

He said the NDC was proud of its relationship with workers “and we do hereby encourage them to stand tall in their unflinching loyalty to the cause of Ghana.”

NDC

In its message, the NDC urged workers to continue to commit themselves to their work and the nation in order to lubricate the wheels of progress and development.

That, it said, was because it was their sweat and toil that would stabilise the nation.

“We in the NDC are proud of our relationship with workers and we do hereby encourage them to stand tall in their unflinching loyalty to the cause of Ghana.

“The NDC further assures all workers that a future NDC government will commit to a much better handling of the economy and award them their due remuneration in recognition of their sterling role in lifting the flag of Ghana,” it said.

The statement said that was a non-negotiable assurance that the party owed to workers in order to maintain their faith in the choice they had made to serve this nation for both the present and future generations.

“For their uncountable contributions to Ghana, their commitment and dedication to duty, for their love for and loyalty to Ghana, we hail all the workers of Ghana,” it stated.

PNC

For its part, the PNC said the party was not oblivious of the difficult circumstances in which workers were operating, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It said a future PNC government shall ensure salaries of workers were increased to meet their needs.

“We shall put in place policies to cut down on import of goods that could be produced locally to create more jobs for Ghanaians while embarking on a major value addition on our raw products such as cocoa, cashew, among others, to further create employment in the country,” it said.

On pensions, the statement said a PNC government would review the pension scheme and make it attractive, and “equally reduce the pension age from 60 to 50 to make way for a youthful working population.”