Government will not downsize public sector

Saying that comments he made at the recent Ghana Economic Forum had been misinterpreted to mean a possible downsizing of the public sector, Mr Osafo-Maafo stressed that the government would rather support the private sector to create the needed jobs.

The Senior Minister is reported to have said that the Ghanaian economy, as it was, could not support new employment opportunities in the public sector as it was choked and hinted of a possible downsizing in the public sector under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

Clarification

Mr Osafo-Maafo gave the clarification when he delivered a speech on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the 2017 national audit conference in Accra.

He said although he had indicated that the public sector was choked and could not support new employment, he explained that the sector could upsize automatically by providing efficient services for the main sector of the economy, the private sector, to expand to increase the demand of public sector services.

He was of the opinion that an increase in public sector services due to a thriving and expanding private sector would require further decentralisation of public sector services, which would automatically require more employment in the sector.

“The public sector, therefore, has a responsibility to provide effective and efficient services for the private sector to have a ripple effect on the public sector,” he said.

According to him, the private sector could not flourish without the public sector, and vice versa.

He said a vibrant private sector was a major solution to the country’s graduate unemployment and underscored the need for the public sector to support the private sector to thrive to create the needed jobs.

Recall

It would be recalled that Mr Osafo-Maafo had said at the Graphic Business-Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting in Accra in February this year that as part of the government’s job creation strategies, it would create the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive so that it could create the needed jobs.

In his view, creating jobs in the public sector was not the way to go, adding: “We cannot create jobs in the public sector but the government will provide the relevant incentives for the private sector to create the jobs.”

He said the NPP won the elections on promises such as the one-district, one-factory initiative and the creation of jobs and, therefore, the government would work to fulfil those pledges.