Gov’t under pressure …E-levy fiasco, teachers strike, Accra floods again, reshuffle fatigue

Rectifying Ghana’s economic stagnation and rising cost of living under the Akufo-Addo led Government has become like peeling an onion; there is always another layer while the burning and irritation of sore eyes goes on.

In a rather unanticipated twist of events, the Government has found itself choked in the throat by diverse challenges which it is bending-over-backwards to solve but without much success.

Its public goodwill is fast eroding and disillusionment is setting in for the citizenry. One would dare say, Government has apparently lost the zeal to even tell its own positive stories as it did from the start when multiple award-winning Ghanaian journalist Jefferson Sackey anchored the ‘Presidential Diaries’ series.

Teachers Strike

It is relying on aesthetic antics to keep basic schools across the country from shutting down even when four teacher unions have declared a nationwide strike over Government’s inability to meet the June 30 deadline for their demands for the payment of Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

The Ghana Education Service has directed public basic schools to remain opened even if the teachers would not be at post. It has instructed the Heads of Schools to single handedly coordinate the students and pupils in the absence of the teachers as though the School heads, in many cases are not members of the teacher unions on strike.

The school heads are mostly members of one of the four unions that have directed members to lay down their chalks and pens. The unions are the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) and Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT).

This is happening at a period final year students at the Junior High level have less than three months to sit for the mandatory Basic  Education Certificate Examination (BECE), a promote to graduate them to the Senior High level.

Negotiations remain in a deadlock and the teachers do not seem to be ready to return to the class rooms without their COLA.

Almost every Ghanaian home gets affected when teachers embark on a strike and of course, tongues start wagging against Government.

Nurses Demand Cash

While Government is yet to find a solution to the teachers on strike, the Union of Professional Nurses and Midwives has officially asked for their share of the same unavailable COLA.

The Union issued a statement in Accra on Tuesday to state their exact demands: “In 2014, a cost of living allowances (COLA) of 10% of Public Sector Workers Basic salary was paid to workers to cushion us when things got tough due to high cost of living. In 2022, we find ourselves in a similar economic situation, and we expected nothing short of a similar stop-gap measure to cushion the many nurses and midwives in the country,” the statement said.

“We have thus taken it upon ourselves as the second-largest union within the nursing and midwifery profession to appeal to the government to as a matter of urgency take a critical look at the matter. The earlier we begin to think about relooking at the conditions in which nurses and midwives work in Ghana, the better it will be for our health system as nurses and midwives play a major role in the health delivery system,” the UPNMG statement added.

E-Levy Fiasco

It has become public knowledge that Government has been able to meet only 10 percent of the revenue it had projected to raise from the Electronic Transaction Levy known as E-Levy for short.

That is a failure and if a creative solution is not adopted with a sense of urgency, the projects expected to be funded by the projected revenue would either not take off at all or halt.

Accra Floods Again

Tuesday morning’s four-hour rains in Accra left many parts of the capital city flooded with properties destroyed and persons displaced while roads leading to workplaces and schools were left submerged in water.

Accusing fingers were, as usual, directed at Government for its inability to find a solution to the annual flooding of Accra. The factors for the annual flooding are well known to all and the bottom line is about a failed leadership in policy implementation.

Reshuffle Fatigue

Same Government, barely a year into its tenure, had some of its ministers with one half of their  attention fixed on working to make the tenure a successful one and the other half fixated on nursing and working towards their presidential ambitions.

President Akufo-Addo did not sack them. They are still at post with some planting campaign billboards across the country instead of planting food. The pressure for a reshuffle keeps mounting, but the President seems to have his own time-table he is keeping to his chest.

IMF Wahala

With no end in sight for the economic stagnation and with the E-Levy underperforming, Government, as a last resort, has limped to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.

This of course comes with its terms and conditions which may include a freeze on public sector employments.

Whatever it is, it is what it is and it is unclear for how long angry Ghanaians can remain pacified with explanations that the current situation the county finds itself is due to the ripples of COVID -19 and Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine.