[ 2015-08-10 ]

‘IMF Didn’t Instigate Mahama’s Comment Over Strike’ - IMANI
President of policy think tank IMANI, Franklin
Cudjoe is of the opinion that the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) did not instigate President
Mahama’s comment on the striking doctors’
issue.

President John Mahama had earlier told the
striking doctors he will not authorise the payment
of any money outside government’s budget for the
year.

He argued that this is to help government fiscal
discipline move.

Many have attributed the president’s comment to
pressure from IMF which wants government to stay
within spending limits as required by the current
bailout programme.

But Franklin Cudjoe downplayed the IMF’s
interference saying it is not because of the
strict surveillance of government’s budget.

Speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme,
The BIG issue, Franklin Cudjoe stated that the
problems to overstretch government budget with
demands from organised labour would not be so
“if we had a culture of spending within our
budget lines.”

He said: “what the President said is the
smartest thing to say. Ordinarily by suggesting
that am, not going to spend a dime outside this
budget is the mark of a very strong leader. If we
have been doing these all this while we wouldn’t
have to get here so whether the IMF is saying it
or not that should have been the norm but having
said so it doesn’t mean that when demands are
made we should also pooh-pooh the demands.”

Mr. Cudjoe hailed the President’s comments as
pragmatic but questioned the payment scales of
government workers as against the work they do
suggesting a lack of meritocracy.

He stated that “I am saying that the
president’s speech by the way half of it was
pragmatic saying the honest thing that I cannot
pay you outside the budget but at the same time I
am saying that the issue of meritocracy
unfortunately has been given to the dogs and we
need to come back to that conversation.”

Ghana has in the past few weeks experienced a
series of strikes especially in the health
sector.

Some of them include, public sector medical
doctors the Government and Hospital Pharmacists
Association (GHOSPA), University Teachers and
until recently, the state attorneys and
psychiatric who had called off their strike.

Source - Citifmonline

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