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Mr Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called for a national paradigm shift from the current neo-liberal economic policies since the policy had failed to improve the lives of the people. �We all recognise that Ghana�s economy is fundamentally a developing third world economy. Statistically, we are told, that the country is a lower middle-income country. �But we also know that we came into middle-income status with all the characteristics of low-income country,� Mr Asamoah said at this year�s May Day National Parade at the Black Star Square in Accra. The programme organised by the TUC was s on the theme: �Ghana�s economy: A concern for all.� The parade which was attended by President John Dramani Mahama and other public officials attracted workers from all the various unions in the country. Mr Asamoah noted that because Ghana�s economy is characterised by under-developed infrastructure and rudimentary technology the approach to its economic policy should be radically different from the policies pursued by countries that have achieved the basic necessities of life for their people. He said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sponsored neo-liberal economic policy framework would never work at this stage of the country�s economic development. He said organised labour believes that overcoming the countries development challenges require a skillful interplay of both the intervention of government and the market policies. Mr Asamoah noted the high and low profile corruption that have become all too pervasive in the country are a reflection of a state that has been weaken by unbridled market policies sponsored by the IMF and supported by the World Bank. He said the nation need to rescue and rehabilitate all the state institutions and place the state at the fore front of the national development. He called for the reversal of the liberal trade policy and also urged the country not to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement in its current form. Mr Asamoah also announced that both organised labour and the government in the last three days have come to the understanding that workers should be adequately cushioned from the harsh economic realities. He said an agreement to this effect is due to be signed and announced tomorrow, Friday, May 2. Mr Asamoah drew the President Mahama�s attention to some development at Atuabo in the Western Region about the intended Oil and Gas Service Free Port to be built by Lonrho. He said the intended Free port constitutes a blatant violation of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) Act 160 of 1986 (PNDC 160), which gives the GPHA the sole authority to plan, build, manage, maintain, operate and control ports. He said placing a port under the control of a private foreign multinational company would undermine national sovereignty and security. Mr Asamoah said the expansion of the Takoradi Port has a component of oil and gas service terminal, therefore providing exclusively for the Atuabo Freeport have the potential of killing the port and thus Ghana would not reap the benefits of the investments in the expansion project. He proposed that the terminal for the oil and gas services should be part of Ghana�s local content in the oil and gas sector and should be placed under the GHPA.