Government asked to take a second look at VAT increase
Residents of Koforidua SSNIT flats demonstrate.
Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of
Education says Ghanaian workers are better off than their counterparts in
neighbouring countries because they receive their salaries on time at the end
of every month.
He told a meeting of staff of the
Sunyani District Directorate of Education on Tuesday that in spite of the
economic hardships facing the country, the government is doing its best to
ensure the well being of all and asked them to exhaust all avenues for redress
of grievances before embarking on strikes, which tend to aggravate the economic
problems of the country.
GRi.../
Accra (Greater Accra Region) 19
April 2000
Professor George Benneh, Chairman
of the National Population Council, on Tuesday called on the government to
return lands it acquired for projects that were not implemented to their
original owners in accordance with the law.
The government should also pay
economic prices for lands it acquires and make payments in such a way that will
benefit all generations of owners from whom the land was acquired, the former
Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, told a seminar on "Land
tenure reform and sustainable agriculture", as part of the annual lectures
of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra.
He said, "members of the clan
or family that owe those lands could be made shareholders of such projects or
government could pay rents periodically to such owners.
He warned against pushing for a
government take over of lands since that could bring about socio-economic and
political problems because public land administration has not injected the
needed confidence in the population.
Prof. Benneh said majority of
Ghanaians will prefer it if they were aided by the government to manage their
land well, as they attach much emotional and spiritual significance to it
adding that "though the passage of time and modification of Ghanaian
cultures may have eroded the cultural attachment to land for economic gains,
the fact that it remains the source of nationhood cannot be denied".
Prof. Benneh lauded the objective
of the land title Act of 1985 but suggested that an intensive programme of
boundary identification and demarcation be carried out by a well-equipped
Survey Department to make the policy achievable.
He said the traditional land
tenure system is flexible enough to support any meaningful investment. Its only
problem is how it is being managed and called
for the modification of the "Abonu and Abusa" land tenure systems to
make them cash-rewarding, since the present crop-sharing arrangement leaves a
lot of room for manipulation and cheating.
GRi.../
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo Region) 19
April 2000
Mr Christian Appiah Agyei, Secretary
General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has urged the government to take a
second look at the proposed increase in the rate of the Value Added Tax (VAT)
in view of the low wage levels of workers.
He said organised labour is not
averse to government's efforts to revamp the tottering educational system,
"our concern is for the tax to be expanded to cover all eligible areas to
ease the burden on workers, who can no longer contain any further increases in
tax".
The Secretary General was speaking
at the opening of the Second Quadrennial Delegates' Conference of the
Communications Workers Union (CWU) of TUC in Sunyani. About 100 delegates are
attending the conference, which is under the theme, "organising
communications workers in the 21st century, a challenge under
globalisation".
Mr Appiah Agyei said the TUC has
asked the President not to assent to the Bill proposing to increase VAT from 10
per cent to 12.5 per cent.
"Our view was that it was at
variance and inconsistent with the avowed commitment of government to be
sensitive to the plight of workers."
The Secretary General said that it
was not as if the TUC did not appreciate the need to develop sustainable
arrangement for funding tertiary education. "No, far from that. The
problem is that we no longer have the capacity to absorb the 2.5 per cent
increase in the VAT rate".
He stressed that the country needs
investments, which can create decent jobs for Ghanaians, "but we reject
job creation initiatives, which compromise the dignity of labour".
Mr Appiah Agyei advised the
government not to use its authority to push through labour legislation that
would force trade unions into an unending struggle for survival and enumerated
challenges facing the working populace as including low age wage levels and
poor conditions of service.
He said, "the unstable rate
of inflation, high interest rates and the unpredictable exchange rate of the
cedi have aggravated the situation" and asked the government to find
antidotes to them.
Mr Daniel Odum-Ewuakye, General
Secretary of CWU appealed to the management of Ghana Telecom and Ghana Post companies
to lay more emphasis on providing efficient and innovative working environment
for increased productivity.
He said the union would support
the two organisations to recruit qualified personnel with the requisite skills
to make them "tick as we expect".
GRi.../
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 19 April 2000
The police have been cautioned against twisting the law in the interest of politicians in their campaigns leading to this year's general election.
Dr. Kofi Kesse Manful, new Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Ashanti, gave the warning at the closing of a six-week refresher course for 44 Police Inspectors at the Police Depot in Kumasi on Tuesday and advised the officers to be absolutely non-partisan and perform their duties according to the dictates of the constitution.
Dr. Manful, formerly in charge of police recruitment and training, asked the inspectors to abstain from all vices such as alcoholism, rape and drug addiction so as to have the confidence to properly enforce the laws of the land.
He told the participants to put what they had learnt into practice and lead exemplary lives while courting the friendship and co-operation of the public to assist them in their duties.
GRi.../
Koforidua (Eastern Region) 19
April 2000
Residents of the Social Security
and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) flats in the Koforidua Municipality on
Tuesday went on a peaceful demonstration against what they described as
"astronomic rent hike" imposed on them by their landlord.
The demonstrators, who reside at
the Adweso Phases One and Two and Effiduase SSNIT flats, went to the Eastern
Regional Co-ordinating Council to present a petition addressed to the
Vice-President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, with copies to the
Minister of Finance and the
Speaker of Parliament among others.
They carried placards some of
which read: "We reject astronomic rent increases", "SSNIT, treat
us fairly", "SSNIT you thrive on our money" and "No
negotiations, no payment".
In the petition, the joint
residents association recalled that in January, SSNIT informed them that it had
increased the rent for the Adweso Phases One and Two flats from 40,000 cedis to
65,000 cedis a month while that for Effiduase was increased from 35,000 cedis
to 60,000 cedis.
According to them the SSNIT
management suspended the decision following their petition on April one, 2000
but " we were shocked with another circular, which raised the rent for
Adweso Phases One and Two from 40,000 cedis to 70,000 cedis and Effiduase from
35,000 cedis to 65,000 cedis, claiming the January circular was an error".
The petition said the new rents
were too exorbitant in relation to their meagre emoluments as public workers, the
period between notification and payment too short for compliance, and the
increases did not take account of the cost incurred by residents in the maintenance
of their flats.
The petition charged that
"the inconsiderate manner of the rent increases is a ploy by SSNIT to find
a surreptitious excuse to eject us from the flats.
"Being among the mainstream
contributors to the SSNIT scheme, we have the moral justification to benefit
from any project in which our funds are invested. The argument that if our salaries are too low to sustain our rent
payments, we should hold our employers (the government) responsible, amounts to
inciting us to destabilise the current peaceful industrial atmosphere in the
country".
The petition suggested that
tenants, who wish to own their flats should be allowed to do so through a
mortgage or a hire purchase system outside the Home Finance Company facility,
which "is an unbearable option for us as salary earners".
It concluded by serving notice
that "we shall continue to pay the existing rent pending a favourable
response from your Excellency".
GRi.../