Nana The Fixer, Brings Back Nurses ‘Alawa’

The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, in yet another significant achievement, has officially restored the monetary allowance for trainee nurses, scrapped by the John Mahama led-Government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The beneficiaries of the restored allowance would be some fifty-eight thousand (58, 000) health trainees, comprising nurses and midwives and would cost government an amount of two hundred and thirty-two million Ghana cedis (GH¢232,000,000) for the 2017/18 academic year alone.

Each of the 58, 000 health trainees will be paid an allowance of four hundred Ghana cedis (GH¢400.00) for each of the ten months of the academic 2017/18 year.

Hell broke loose in Ghana when the former government scrapped the trainee allowance but the then President, John Mahama, despite the negative feedback and passionate plea from nurses and civil society, stood his ground and insisted his government would never restore the allowance even if it meant it would cost him and the NDC, the December 2016 elections.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), under the leadership of then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, promised to restore the scrapped allowance if his party gets voted into government.

Sensing danger that Nana Addo’s promise to restore the nurses allowance was resonating well with the electorate, the same John Mahama made a shocking U-turn, when he announced, two months to the December polls, that he would also restore the same  allowance he scrapped if the electorates maintained him as President of Ghana.

Ten months after Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP won the elections, the new government, yesterday Tuesday October 10, 2017, officially restored the scrapped allowance to the joy and relief of the 58, 000 trainee nurses across the country.

Nana Addo, speaking at the ‘restoration’ ceremony noted: “So, when, in 2014, under the government of the former President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, the nurses and midwifery trainee allowances were cancelled, it brought untold hardships to the thousands of nurses and midwives in the country, who depended on it for their studies and for their welfare. Many of your colleagues, as a result of the cancellation, were demotivated and demoralised.

“The New Patriotic Party and I heard your cry, and assured you of the restoration of these allowances, if we won the election. By the grace of God, and by the generosity and trust of the Ghanaian people, I am here, today, as President of the Republic, ready to fulfill the pledge we made to you.”

The President was optimistic that the huge cost can be sustained by the government he leads.

“To the professional cynics and skeptics, those who have made an industry out of constantly asking “is this policy sustainable?”, I wish to assure them that, with the proper management of our public finances, the nation’s budget can accommodate such an amount”, Nana Addo noted in his statement.

Source: Halifax Ansah-Addo