Greater Accra regional chairman of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Joseph Ade Coker, has described as unfortunate, Trade Unions Congress’ (TUC) ultimatum to government over the recent tariff hikes.
The TUC has threatened to hit the streets if government and the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) fail to reduce utility tariffs by one third. They have given government and PURC a 10-day ultimatum or face their wrath.
But speaking on Peace FM’s morning show Kokrokoo Wednesday, Ade Coker, said the TUC is being dishonest.
According to him, TUC is part of the problem because, in the run up to the increment, it participated fully in the stakeholder meetings organized by PURC and thus cannot blame government for their inefficiencies.
He added: “You [TUC] can’t come from the river and tell us something different. The ultimatum is neither here nor there because they were part of it”.
Ade Coker noted that if TUC had boycotted the stakeholder meetings and also opposed the 78.9 percent for electricity and 52 percent for water; it will have the moral authority to challenge government and PURC.
He stated that governments have over the years interfered in the work of the PURC but the institution in charge must be able to resist any external inference in their work.
“We need to build strong institutions without government interference so the PURC should go back and mitigate the situation”.
Ade Coker urged TUC not to allow themselves to be influenced by selfish politicians for their partisan parochial interest.
Source: GhanaWeb
