Expactant nursing trainees
The Ghana Nurses and Midwives Trainees’ Association (GNMTA) says government is attempting to throw dust into their eyes by commencing what it calls the payment of cancelled allowances in another form.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) in statement on Thursday said it has started payment of decreased nurses’ trainee allowances for the period of October to December. The statement also said each trainee nurse will receive a one-off pay of GH¢450.
But speaking to Citi FM, President of GNMTA, Godwin Asabire Akazeem, said government is only playing politics with the matter since the terms of payment is still unclear
“You realise that this allowance that they said is restoration, the sustainability of the programme too is in question. As to whether they are paying from July and September on table top, the rest of the months’ allowance is also going to be on table top or what. We don’t even know whether we should call this an allowance because his Excellency, the President of Ghana said we are restoring your allowance, and then the spokesperson will tell you they are paying you updated monies so what is updated monies and what is allowance?
“So they should tell us the truth as to whether this one is a restoration of allowance and if it is a restoration of allowance, they should bring document on paper that should guide subsequent governments as to what they are suppose to do with regards to the payment,” he disclosed.
Trainee nurses have protested the withdrawal of the allowances, forcing government to introduce a temporary allowance until the trainees are fully migrated onto the Students’ Loan Scheme.
Accountant Suspended
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has asked the head of the accounts unit of Kumasi Nursing and Midwifery Training Council (NMTC) to step aside for investigations.
This follows the allegations that the head accountant of the institution, Bismark Dauda Mahama, was giving the trainees GH¢360 instead of GH¢450.
This was contained in a letter signed by the Minister of Health, Alex Segbefia, and cited by pulse.com.gh.
“Information reaching us is that you have flouted our directive to paying the students in your school GH¢360 per student.”
“In view of the above you are directed to hand over the management of the accounts unit to your assistant so as to enable us to carry full investigations into the allegations,” the letter added.
The government has started paying the abated and temporary nurses trainee allowances with few weeks to the general elections, in what observers believe is a vote catching scheme.
In a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health, Tony Goodman, he said, “The untaxed amount is GH¢150 per student for three months making a total amount of GH¢450 per student.”
Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur had earlier indicated that the government will restore the nursing training allowances.
Speaking at a campaign event at Nalerigu Nursing and Midwifery College a couple of weeks ago, Mr Amissah-Arthur said restoring the allowances would negatively affect future plans to educate more nurses and expand infrastructure in the country.
“We want to invest some of the resources of this country for the future. If I stand here and just say that the ‘alawa’ has been reintroduced, you will be happy and then we will go home; but then it will have an implication for the future…because it means that the school blocks that we want to build for the growing population, we may not be able to do it.”
The government argues that trainees can now asses the Students’ Loan Trust Fund to support the financial demands that accompany their studies.
However, the opposition NPP says it would restore the scrapped allowances to the full when voted to power.
This has forced the government to recently announce a reintroduction of the allowances albeit to a very small amount.