A recent call by Chairman Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Wontumi, the Ashanti Region NPP chairman, on the incompetent Mahama/Amissah Arthur’s government to scrap-off the capitation policy of the Nation Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the Ashanti Region has been meted out with uproar and disenchantment from the quarters of the NDC.
But, showing mark of seriousness and zealousness to the realization of this call, Wontumi has further indicated his intent and commitment to pull over one million residents of the region onto the streets of Kumasi to vehemently demonstrate in a Rambo and Arab Spring style against this vicious capitation policy of the NHIS in the region. See; “We’ll use ‘Arab Spring’ to overthrow NDC – NPP Chairman assures”http://edition.radioxyzonline.com/pages/politics/04022014-0637/18928.stm
Interestingly, some pundits and NDC apparatchiks have sought to demonize this call for justice, while others have impugned treasonable motives to the call. NPP-USA would like to – in no uncertain terms – associate itself fully with the statement of Wontumi.
It is utterly ridiculous that for the past years, the so-called piloting of the capitation policy of the NHIS in the Ashanti Region has been executed with its attendant repercussion – to a larger extent, resulting in death of residents who seek critical medical attention in health centers – without any remorse. When is it ending? This is the very question virtually on the lips of suffering people in the region.
Moreover, it surprises us that for all these past years, government has not accounted for the efficiency or otherwise of this capitation policy, neither has such been replicated elsewhere. Our checks however indicate that this “killer policy” has contributed to the decline of health services and delivery, virtually ushering in the infamous cash and carry system to the health sector of the Ashanti Region. To us, this really goes to affirm the corroborated assertion by Maxwell Kofi Jumah that the John Mahama and the NDC are anti-Ashanti. See; “Mahama is discriminating against Ashantis – Kofi Jumah”http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=305434
Indeed, the capitation program is a sham! It is highly inappropriate and unacceptable within the realm of common sense that when a government intents to supposedly reduce waste in the NHIS through capitation, it chooses a cosmopolitan area like the Ashanti Region; the most populous region in the country. This display defies the logic and principles of research and effective program management. It exposes the ineptitude and incompetence of the Mahama government and unveils his vicious anti Ashanti agenda.
Furthermore, research shows that it is only prudent, that, in identifying the effectiveness of such policy likes the NHIS capitation policy (in its pilot phase) one works with a small or minimum sample or numbers. This will help unravel deficiencies, loopholes, and operational lapses in its mode of operation. It produces accurate results. Failure to observe these rudiments of effective policy facilitation calls for an unqualified and unconditional apology from the government to the people of the Ashanti Region.
We cannot but conclude that the capitation of the scheme in the region is an inferior tactics diabolically calculated to mete out an absurdly unfair treatment to the people of the Region for no apparent reason. However, one may only wonder if it isn’t “The Great Ashanti Project” in full gear.
Against this background, we are solidly rallying behind Chairman Wontumi’s call and all other similar calls for the repeal of such “criminal act” against the people of the region. They deserve better healthcare services equally, like their fellows in the other regions. We call on Chairman Wontumi not to shudder in his quest to seek social, economic, health and political justice for the people of his region, for NPP-USA has got his back.
We also caution President John Dramani Mahama and his NDC to desist from using his erstwhile soviet KGB tactics to intimidate Chairman Antwi Boasiako, also known as wontumi. Resorting to his nefarious KGB tactics – bribery, intimation and threat of murder, will not work because the whole world is watching him and his putridly corrupt regime closely.