Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Dr Nana Ayew Afriye
The Minority in Parliament has insisted that there is no need for additional financial clearance or Cabinet approval to pay salaries owed to over 6,000 nurses and midwives who have been working for the past ten months without pay.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, the Ranking Member on the Health Committee, Dr Nana Ayew Afriye, demanded the immediate payment of the ten months’ arrears owed to the affected health workers.
Giving background to the recruitment of the affected workers, the Minority accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of creating a political mess and taking Ghanaians for granted.
According to Dr Afriye, financial clearance for the recruitment of about 15,000 health professionals was originally secured under the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
Minority lays blame at government’s doorsteps over unpaid nurses’ salaries
Despite expiring on December 31, 2024, about 7,000 of these workers were engaged and paid before the NPP handed over power following the December 2024 general elections, in which the NDC and John Dramani Mahama emerged victorious.
The remaining 6,000 nurses were subsequently employed by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to fill critical gaps in healthcare delivery, even after the clearance had lapsed.
However, the incoming NDC government failed to renew or extend the clearance upon assuming office in January 2025, a move the Minority described as deliberately political.
“We cannot continue to be reasonable when you take the youth of this country for granted. The youth of this country matter, Ghanaians matter, nurses matter, and midwives also matter,” Dr Afriye stated.
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The Minority Caucus further accused the Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, of misleading the public in a recent announcement in which he claimed the government had secured fresh clearance and Cabinet approval for the payments, effective November 2025.
Disputing the need for further approvals, the Effiduase-Asokore MP argued that expired clearances are routinely extended in public administration.
He maintained that, but for the government’s decision to politicize the issue, the affected workers could have been paid by now.
“There is no need for Cabinet to approve anything again. This is the clearance. The government should come and tell us there was no clearance, there was; it expired. And they should tell us if indeed, in public administration, there has never been a clearance that expired and was later extended.
“It’s no news in this country or any other. They lacked the will, and their decision was too political. The government created this mess; they need to fix it and fix it now. They should pay them now because the money was allocated. They should pay them now,” he stated.
GA/MA
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