The Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) on Wednesday extended its solidarity to working people throughout the world who are at the forefront in the production of material goods in society.

A statement issued by Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Editor of the Insight Newspaper and copied to Ghana News Agency said this year’s May Day is observed at a time when the crisis of capitalism is deepening and leaving in its wake more devastation and collapse of national economics, resulting in mass unemployment, increased lack of access to education, health and rising prices.

It said this has resulted in both local and international capital doing its utmost to come up with new schemes and arrangements like the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) to decide and increase exploitation of developing countries like Ghana.

“As capitalism suffers more reverses, the ruling elite gets even more repressive and is promoting wars around the world to save the military industrial complex from collapsing and facilitate the seizure of natural resources for the sole purpose of maximising profits,” it said.

It added: “It is also using the EPA to penetrate the small-scale informal sector by removing all barriers to indigenous development of our national economy. The signs are dire for the workers of Ghana as well as the small scale business sector.”

According to the statement, in Ghana the foreign investors, which the government and the elite trumpet as the saviours of the national economy, are involved in the massive exploitation of the natural resources leaving in its wake the destruction of environment, land and the obliteration of livelihoods of farmers and the youth living in mining communities.

It explained that the deficit in the housing stock as well as the lack of democratic control over land and housing has led to a situation in which working people and their families have their settlement and hard built shelters demolished to give way to expensive real estate for the local elite.

It said high cost of education has also led to many poor people and their dependents being denied access to education.

It said SFG salutes Ghanaian workers on May Day and pledges its full support to all workers fighting for improvement in their conditions of work.

“The SFG makes this clarion call to all workers organisations to unite and enter into a coalition with other progressive groups to face and fight the onslaught by international and local capital on their rights and conditions of service,” it added.

It said: “We should never agree to mass retrenchment, a wage freeze or suspensions of the new pay policy and we must resolutely oppose the EPA and any new IMF economic policy by the current NDC government and the local hirelings of foreign capital.”