The Minority in Parliament has asked the government to ensure the immediate payment of over six thousand nurses and midwives who have been working without pay for the past 10 months.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Dr Nana Ayew Afriye, rejected attempts by the government to blame the plight of the affected health workers on the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
He argued that the government’s claim that the financial clearance given by the erstwhile government had expired, requiring the current administration to seek Cabinet approval for a new clearance to pay the affected workers, was unfounded.
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“In normal public administration and civil service in this country, financial clearance expires. Even under this government, they will have financial clearances expiring; they will go for extensions. It is a normal practice in the system; it’s no news. But you can only use it when you go for an extension from the Ministry of Finance. So, why didn’t the government see the need? Money was allocated for 15,000; you came in, and almost 7,000 or 8,000 had started.
“The remaining were employed by the Ghana Health Service. Although they were late, they were at post. You didn’t see the need to tell the institutions to reject them, nor did the institutions write to you to reject them. What it meant was that they filled the gap, and they were needed at post. So, the institutions used them,” he explained.
The Minority stated that the government’s failure to pay the workers was purely a political decision, which they have sought to blame on the previous administration.
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“Except for political reasons, they did not extend this for political reasons, and then ten months down, they face an embarrassment where the students or the staff went on a public demonstration to draw your mind to this clearance and the need for extension. Embarrassingly enough, you are saying that you have taken it to Cabinet for approval. What sort of Cabinet do you need to take for approval when you have the clearance already? You are throwing dust in the eyes of the people. So, the government created the mess, and they’ve seen that after ten months, it’s caught up with them, and they are fixing it,” he said.
The Minority emphasised their demand for the immediate payment of the affected workers, while insisting that the government’s decision to pay the workers in November is unjustified and needless.
GA/AE
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