Ashanti TUC confident of pooling a million demonstrators

The Ashanti regional branch of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) says it expects not less than a million people on the streets of Kumasi for the mass labor demonstration today.

Workers in the Region are to converge at the Cultural Center where the demonstration commences.

Labor is protesting what they describe as a worsening cost of living caused by hikes in utility and petroleum prices, the depreciating value of the local currency and the mismanagement of the economy.

The TUC has called on all industries and employers as well as all well-meaning Ghanaians feeling the pinch of the situation to support and join the demonstration.

The routes for the Ashanti regional demonstrations have all been approved by the regional police command after a cordial meeting, with the police and the demonstrators.

Outlining arrangements to Ultimate Radio, Ashanti Regional Secretary of the Trades Union Congress Clement Kaba outlined that, “WE will assemble at the cultural center and move at eight AM prompt."

“We will move through Pampaso to the Methodist Roundabout to KAMAH, to the Challenge Bookshop through Presby to the ECG round about. We will then move through KMA to the RCC as the last stop,” he explained.

He is however appealing to the demonstrators not to be in any party colors. He emphasized that black and red colors will be most preferred for the occasion.

Clement Kaba also cautioned the demonstrators to exhibit their democratic right in a peaceful manner in order not to mar the beauty of the exercise he called a “peaceful demonstration.”

“This is not the first time we are doing this with the police and the assurance we got from them is that that they will be with us to the end. As to how many policemen will be present I do not know that, but we expect that our workers will number close to a million,” he noted with optimism.

The police have however given a stern warning that, any individual going contrary to the routes approved for the demonstrations will not be countenanced.

The demonstration in the Ashanti region looks to be a packed house for both the organizers and the security forces alike as several umbrella worker bodies have expressed their readiness to join the mass action.

Speaking to Ultimate Radio, the Ashanti regional secretary of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) Oteng Frimpong said they are going to drum home issues about the biting impact of the ailing economy and bottlenecks with their second-tier pension payments.

He stated, “We have asked all our members to join the demonstration because all the issues relate to us, and no teacher should stay away from the demonstrations.”

He added quickly that their initial plan to meet at the post office had been revised and that all teachers should converge at the cultural center before taking off.

The biggest commercial transport union, the Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU) has also thrown their weight behind the demonstrations.

Its Ashanti regional industrial relations officer Rev. Elis Owusu-Ansah told ultimate radio, they share in the Concerns of the TUC.

“We are affiliated to the TUC and so far as Trade Union Congress is organizing a demonstration, we are involved and we can’t be left out” he stated.

One would have thought workers in the private sector would be left out. However, the association of Ghana industries in the Ashanti region says otherwise.

Vice chairman of the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo branches of the AGI Mr. William Awuku Aheadomeh told Ultimate Radio, all manufacturers and employers under the association have given way for their staff to partake in the demonstrations.

He stated that though the AGI and the Ghana Employers Association weren’t going to be directly partakers of the demonstrations, they had no choice but to send a circular directing that their employees be allowed to exercise their democratic right.