Minority accuses Mintah Akandoh of misleading health workers over financial clearance

The Minority in Parliament has accused the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, of deceiving health professionals about the government’s claim of securing financial clearance for their recruitment and payment of arrears.

According to the Minority, the minister’s announcement that Cabinet had approved financial clearance for various categories of health workers, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, is misleading and untrue.

At a counter press conference on October 14, the Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, described the minister’s claims as deceptive.

He explained that the financial clearance for recruiting health professionals actually expired on December 31, 2024, under the previous administration and was never renewed by the current government.

Dr. Afriyie alleged that although the previous government had allocated funds to recruit 15,000 health workers, only about 7,000 to 8,000 were employed before the change of administration.

The remaining health workers, he said, were later engaged by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) despite the expired clearance.

“The money was already allocated for 15,000 workers,” Dr. Afriyie said.

“You came in, 7,000 or almost 8,000 had started, and the rest were employed by GHS. They were already at post, so why seek new Cabinet approval when clearance had already been granted?”

He accused the Health Minister of trying to cover up what he called “a mess” created by the government’s poor handling of health sector employment issues.

“He’s throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians, the government caused this mess and, after ten months, is now rushing to fix it,” Dr Afriyie stressed.

The Minority therefore urged the Minister of Health to come clean and provide accurate information on the status of financial clearances and arrears payments for health professionals, rather than giving what they describe as false assurances.