Help Correct Notion Public Sector Is Sole Employment Source’

The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Haruna Iddrisu , has called for collaboration between public and private sector employers to disabuse the minds of the public that the public sector is the only or better source of employment. The minister, who was addressing the 55th Annual General Meeting and Business Luncheon of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA) in Accra yesterday, said the public also needed to be reorientated to look particularly at the private sector for employment. The meeting was on the theme: “Job creation: A critical tool for economic growth and development”. While describing the theme as very apt, Mr Iddrisu said to create enough jobs locally, the public sector needed to collaborate with the private and create a congenial environment for the sector to thrive. State of the economy The minister also touched on the state of the economy and said all the economic problems and the erratic power supply were momentary problems and that the government was pursuing pragmatic policies to address them, both in the long and the short terms. He said all the economic indicators pointed to a promising and encouraging local economy in the near future, adding, however, that the government would collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure that the impact of the unstable economy was minimised. He also talked about the establishment of a local Exim Bank to enhance the manufacturing and export sectors to boost the economy, adding that when preparations towards its establishment were complete, the details would be made public. Public/private sector engagement In his remarks, the First Vice-President of the association, Dr Yaw Adu–Gyamfi, called on the government to engage the association to deal with the menace of piracy and counterfeiting which he said was crippling the private sector. He said currently all the laws on patent had become inefficient and, therefore, needed to be reviewed. On power supply, Dr Adu–Gyamfi said while the GEA expected the government to ensure the production of adequate power to enhance existing jobs and facilitate the creation of new ones, there was also the need for the government to ensure efficiency in the power distribution system. Unemployment rate In his keynote address, the Chief Executive Officer of the KAMA Group of Companies, Dr Michael Agyekum Addo, said the unemployment problem should be one of the country’s biggest concerns. He said the issue must be of particular concern to the institutions in charge of national security, in view of the recent report that some Ghanaians had joined the ISIS. Dr Addo said entrepreneurs occupied a central position in the local market economy, being the creators of 80 per cent of the jobs in the informal sector. He, therefore, called on the government to create a conducive environment for entrepreneurs to thrive to make entrepreneurship attractive and a viable job creation tool.

Source: Daily Graphic