President John Mahama says he has become impervious to threats of strikes and demonstrations in Ghana and will not yield to any of such threats in the upcoming election year.
Adopting what he calls a “dead-goat syndrome”, the President said he would not be hoodwinked by such strategies by workers.
“I have seen more demonstrations and strikes in my first two years. I don’t think it can get worse. It is said that when you kill a goat and you frighten it with a knife, it doesn’t fear the knife because it is dead already.
“I have a dead goat syndrome,” he told a Ghanaian population in Botswana where he is on a three-day official state visit.
The country has over the few years experienced a number of strikes and demonstrations from workers, most of whom protested against poor conditions of services.
The Trades Union Congress was one of the many workers’ unions who were on the streets last year to protest the worsening economic crisis.
The President said such demonstrations are part of strategies by workers’ groups to tie the hands of Government, especially in election years.
And when Government yields to such threats, the economy and budget are thrown out of gear, only for the government to start tightening its belt after elections.
That will not be allowed in 2016, he promised.
