The ensuing public outcry against poor working conditions across Africa during this year's Labour Day calls for a rethink of productivity and remuneration. This comes in the wake of a call by Prof. Edmund Delle (aspirant, National Chairmanship slot in Ghana’s Convention Peoples Party) that Labour Day be a critical day for government, labour and employers to reflect on a new labour orientation.

While the high cost of living has widened the rich-poor gap and contributed to socio-political upheavals in most African countries, a report by the African development Bank Group’s (ADBG) that over the past decade, the number of middle-class consumers in Africa has expanded is encouraging. The report notes that the middle class in Africa – those who make $2 to $20 per day - represents about 34% of the overall population, or about 313 million people. This compares with around 196 million middle class individuals a decade ago. Considering the fact that some countries in Africa have 2/3 of their population in middle class while others have less than 1/3, it is imperative that African governments invest in bridging the gap to achieve the forecast that by 2020, 128 million households in Africa will have discretionary income to spend – more than double in merely two decades.

This will partly be achieved by proscribing punitive taxes; increasing capital accumulation; ensuring efficient management of resources; investing in education that empowers the citizenry to solve prevailing community challenges; partnerships; value addition and encouraging new inventions. We can neither distribute more wealth than is created nor pay labour as a whole more than it produces.