Dr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, the Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment, says he is ready to learn more about the sector and provide policy direction for a holistic transformation.
He said he was not assuming the position to “lord” it over the workers and to impose ideas on them but rather would serve with immense responsibility.
The Minister was speaking during his first official duty at the Ministry where he engaged directors, heads of agencies, departments and staff and called for their support and technical expertise.
He pledged to lead the sector in shaping the nation’s workforce, protecting the rights of all Ghanaian workers and fostering growth.
He said the government was committed to creating decent jobs, protecting and improving livelihoods of the workforce, increasing productivity and sustainability of businesses, and accelerating economic growth.
“My priorities for the sector will include promoting job creation and employment opportunities and I welcome all your technical expertise in shaping policies that will lead to the transformation of the sector and Ghana as a whole,” Dr Pelpuo said.
The Minister said the Government would work tirelessly to reduce unemployment and underemployment by supporting initiatives that created decent jobs, especially for the youth, women, and vulnerable groups.
The government would also collaborate with the private sector, educational institutions, and development partners to enhance skilled training, entrepreneurship, and labour market access.
Mr Ofosu Asamoah, Executive Secretary of the National Labour Commission, said the Commission had not been able to sit on cases brought before it in the last two months as the two government appointees from the former President Akufo-Addo administration ceased to be members.
“We await the nomination of the new government to fill the two spaces because we receive between 80 and 120 cases every month and, so for, the past two months that we have not being sitting we have about 200 cases that have come,” he said.
Mr Asamoah said the longer they stayed in nominating the people the higher the cases piled up and workers could not continue to endure abuses of their rights and wrongful termination of contracts, among others.
Some of the heads of agencies present were Mr Benjamin Arthur, Chief Executive, Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, and officials from the Social Security National Insurance Trust.
GNA