Dr. Kojo Pumpuni Asante, director of advocacy and policy engagement at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), disagrees with the defence minister's assertion that recent labour unrest poses a threat to the country's stability.
Dominic Nitiwul claims that the unrest, which is occurring at a time when the country is experiencing a severe economic crisis, might spark an uprising similar to that that occurred in other North African governments during the Arab Spring.
He has thus pleaded with the labour unions to be patient as the government bargains with the IMF for a bailout to resolve them.
Dr. Pumpuni Asante responded to the Minister's remarks by saying that the agitations should be viewed as a chance for inclusion rather than a danger to national security. According to him, the government's approach of just forcing new policies on residents without consulting labour unions or other stakeholders has failed in the past and, should it be adopted again, would be more likely to spark an uprising in this time of economic distress.
Instead, he said that in order to strike an agreement with the IMF, government should seize the chance to interact with and incorporate all labour unions and civil society organisations.
He added, "I fully disagree," during a Saturday Newsfile appearance on JoyNews. Because we're not some mindless task outside that doesn't have the interest of our country at heart, now is actually the perfect moment to do it. We actually want to ensure that because we're loyal customers, you know We won't be facing the same difficulties after the IMF is gone.
"If we accept monies from the IMF without making sure that surcharges are applied, that Covid payments are accounted for, or that we are transparent, we will face the same issues and return to the IMF. Being inclusive when making choices is therefore in both our and the government's best interests. We're all involved.
"This IMF issue and the issues we'll face in the next years will effect all of us, so it's not some government or someone sitting someplace making a decision for themselves that will profit," he continued. Consequently, I believe that from a security perspective - and actually, we want to even assist in terms of the security perspective because we feel that creating spaces like this for citizens to engage and discuss, how do we move forward together is a better security measure than marginalising people, having your way, and imposing things on people, that is what is going to create instability.
Because of this, he recommended, "I would encourage government to engage all of these organisations, create the chance for us to communicate so that we can cooperate to safeguard Ghana and make sure that we have the culture of accountability entrenched.