The Deputy Minister of Finance designate, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, has said that the 10 per cent increase in the base pay for workers in the country will lead to more than GH¢11 billion increase in compensation bills.
He said the percentage increment was appropriate under the current economic circumstances, adding that the government was willing to give more to workers when the situation got better.
“We are happy; we are grateful to the labour unions for this understanding. I believe that when the economy picks up, we would be in a position to do more for labour,” he said.
Mr Ampem, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Asuogyaman Constituency, said this during his vetting at the Parliament Appointments Committee sitting in Accra last Monday.
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This was in response to a question by the Minority Chief Whip, Frank Annor Dompreh, as to whether he found the 10 per cent given to labour acceptable, as compared to the 30 plus per cent given by the previous government or not.
Forums
Mr Ampem also described the various stakeholder forums being organised by the government to brainstorm as necessary for consensus building.
It includes an ongoing education forum and a planned economic dialogue to be organised on March 2, 2025.
“This is intended to build consensus on the way forward. President Mahama is focused on delivery, but it is always important to carry people along,” he said, in response to a question from the Member of Parliament for Weija Gbawe, Jerry Ahmed Shaib.
The nominee expressed the hope that “unlike the Senchi consensus, our brothers and sisters on the other side will participate in this one so we all put our hands together to build a better Ghana, to reset Ghana”.
USAID
Answering a question on the decision of the US government to withdraw its USAID programme, Mr Ampem said that President Mahama had instructed the Finance Minister to look for funding to support programmes that might be affected by the withdrawal.
“We know that aid to our country has been dwindling over the years. DANIDA is no longer supporting programmes in Ghana as it used to.
“The United Kingdom, for instance, has reduced their aid budget from 0.75 per cent of GNP to 0.5 per cent.
“This should tell us that it will get to a time aid to our country will probably dwindle to zero.
The only difference between the need for donor funding and that of the USAID is that the announcement about USAID withdrawal came suddenly, but we have seen the trend that aid is dwindling and so it is important that we begin to plan our lives without aid and see what we can do for ourselves,” he said.
