Dr Rashid Pelpuo, Minister of State in Charge of Special Initiatives, has defended the government’s record on labour relations and job creation, saying about 90% of planned strike actions were called off during his tenure as Minister for Labour, Jobs and Employment.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Thursday, August 27, 2026, Dr Pelpuo said 17 planned strike actions had been reported when he assumed office, but engagements with organised labour helped resolve most of the disputes.

“Almost everywhere, they said they were going on strike,” he said.

He said the ministry focused on dialogue and negotiations to address workers’ concerns before the disputes escalated.

“We had meetings with them, we listened to them, we cooperated, they cooperated. We got to a point where almost 90% of them gave up their strike actions,” he said.

Dr Pelpuo cited the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) and workers of the Ghana National Lottery Authority among the groups whose planned strikes were called off following engagements.

On job creation, Dr Pelpuo gave the government a B+, saying its performance was “getting close to A”.

“I think we’ve gotten a B. Even B+. We’re getting close to A,” he said.

He explained that the government was using a multisectoral approach involving ministries, departments and the private sector to create jobs.

“We have a multisectoral approach to job creation and accounting for the number of jobs that are created,” he said.

However, he acknowledged that the government was still compiling figures from ministries and departments to establish the exact number of jobs created.

“If I give you any number now, it would be an estimate. I have written to all the ministries and departments to give me the number of jobs that have been created so far,” he said.

On the 24-hour economy, Dr Pelpuo said the policy was already being implemented by some private-sector companies. He said he had visited about 10 companies operating around the clock, while more than 400 companies had been identified as interested in participating in the initiative.