The Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said that this must be considered especially when the country is exiting the IMF programme by the end of 2018.
The Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has appealed to the labor and Civil Society Organizations to help the government reduce the large size of the country’s public sector workers.
He said that this must be considered especially when the country is exiting the IMF programme by the end of 2018.
He was asked if he thought it was prudent for the government to spend half of its revenue on paying salaries of public servants.
READ ALSO: Stranded customers of First Allied Savings & Loans can't withdraw their money
“Should I be paying say 50 percent of my revenue to say, 50,000 people? .We say no. it means therefore that we must drive towards 35 percent. But that is a shared agreement. What is the quality of life that we want as people? We want you to be educated so that you have decent jobs, you want a roof over your head, you want food and shelter etc,” he said.
He observed that with the help of labor and CSOs, public discourse on what constitutes income could be redefined to improve the economic well-being of the masses.
“We have to now discuss with labor about the new housing scheme. So that labor is not the GHS100 cedis that I earn but if I can be clear about getting housing in 15 and 20 years’ time, that certainly is worth it”
READ ALSO: Panic withdrawals hit Midland Savings and Loans
“We have done our part to start the education because definitely human capital is free. How do we at this point in time create a social partnership in which we sit down as a people and agree between ourselves that okay, labor, CSO what is this that we are going to do that sociologically fits where we want to go as a people,” he added.
He was of the view that labor will play an important role in such a decision to sustain its implementation.