Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, Ranking Member on Parliament’s Health Committee, has attributed the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association’s (GRNMA) decision to suspend its nationwide strike to the strategic and respectful posture adopted by the Committee during negotiations.
The GRNMA suspended its strike today after nearly a week of service disruptions in public health facilities nationwide. A final round of negotiations is expected on June 26, which will determine whether the government’s response meets the nurses’ expectations — and whether the truce will hold.
Speaking in an interview on Citi Eyewitness News on Friday June 13, Dr Afriyie emphasised that the Committee’s unified and constructive approach played a significant role in easing tensions and encouraging cooperation from the GRNMA leadership.
“It is just the posturing… The Parliamentary Committee were of a posture of a kind that we were seeking the cooperation of the nurses,” he stated. “We were a very solid, organised team and we know their rights.”
He acknowledged that the nurses’ demands were not out of place, pointing out that other healthcare professionals had already signed their revised conditions of service under the previous government.
According to him, nurses are the only cadre within the health sector yet to have their agreement fully implemented.
“It is not like anything they are asking for is new… So we told them some first principles — that you are right,” he noted.
Dr. Afriyie added that the Committee’s bipartisan support was crucial. He highlighted how the minority caucus openly sided with the nurses, giving them the confidence that their concerns were being fairly heard.
“The good thing is that they were hearing it from the Minority who sided with them. We side with them — except we asked that, on the face of what is right before Ghanaians and before God, can we give an opportunity for two weeks so that we can pursue the concerns through a legislative angle,” he said.
He revealed that the Committee proposed a compromise: for the government to initially meet half of the GRNMA’s demands — four out of eight key concerns — with the remaining issues addressed in the next budget cycle.
“We pleaded with them to get some four out of the eight they are asking for, so that we can ask the government to do some four now, and then in the next budget, they can do the remaining four,” Dr. Afriyie explained.
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