Ransford Edward Van Gyampo, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana, has questioned the democratic integrity of President Akufo-Addo, following what he describes as his lack of tolerance for dissent.
Comparing him to former President Jerry John Rawlings, who came through as a military leader and openly declared his dislike for multi-party democracy, he said the late President was better at taking dissenting opinions, compared to Akufo-Addo who is a supposed crusader of multi-party democracy.
According to Gyampo, the President is applying all means to break the front of labour unions so they cannot be unified to take a collective action against the government.
His comment comes on the back of a strike action which Organised Labour intended to embark on to register its displeasure with the government’s lackadaisical attitude towards illegal mining otherwise known as ‘galamsey’.
A night to the commencement of the action, Organised Labour called off the strike with leadership of two of the unions reading an already prepared statement at the meeting which was held to arrive at a decision.
But the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) dissented from the decision and embarked on the strike following a vote that was held at all the public university campuses where they represent.
Few days after the strike, another group arose from UTAG to counter the collective decision which was taken through voting at all the respective campuses.
According to Gyampo, he was on phone at the time some ministers called some of their members to influence them to go against the collective decision of UTAG.
Speaking on the fallout from the strike on the KeyPoints Saturday, October 19, 2024, he questioned why the President is refusing to take dissenting views and trying everything to break the front of labour unions.
“Jerry Rawlings, he openly said he didn’t believe in multi-party democracy but he knew how to tolerate the existence of dissenting views. Akufo-Addo what is wrong? I drove from here to my hometown to go and vote for you. You can’t tolerate dissent, and you resort to breaking the front of labour unions? So under you, nobody should talk? What sort of government is this?,” he questioned.
Prof. Gyampo further charged some labour unions within Organised Labour to change their leadership since they do not serve their interest.
He says if the unions do not change their leadership, they (leaders) will continue to remain rich at the expense of their members.
Prof. Gyampo alleges the said leadership, when tasked to negotiate base salaries and other conditions of service for their members, allow themselves to be compromised at the expense of their members.
Source: 3news.com
