President John Mahama
Government has finally succumbed to pressure by trainee nurses to restore their cancelled allowances.
A statement signed by the Minister of Health, Alex Segbefia, indicated that “a Technical Committee set up by the president to review the issue of nursing students’ allowances has recommended the payment of an abated allowance with a possibility to migrate them onto the Students Loan Scheme.”
With this, each student nurse is expected to receive an amount of GH¢150 a month – far less than the previous allowance.
DAILY GUIDE’s sources said the decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, as the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has promised to restore not only the allowances of the student nurses, but also those of teacher trainees, if voted into power in this year’s elections.
Government’s decision, according to sources, was occasioned by intelligence reports and Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) opinion poll, which tipped the NPP presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, as likely winner of the 2016 presidential poll.
The survey, among other things, asked the government to give out more freebies to Ghanaians ahead of the elections as part efforts to win more votes, in view of the general economic hardships with growing calls for change becoming deafening by day.
For many political analysts, “This is a bait by President Mahama and the NDC to get the votes of 34,500 student nurses spread across the country in the coming elections.”
Some have therefore wondered whether government would also consider restoring those of the teacher trainees.
But government claims, “The amount would serve as a bridging mechanism, pending the amendment of the Students Loan Trust Act to enable students in non-tertiary health training institutions access loans to support their education.”
Ironically, it was the General Secretary of the ruling NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, who said a couple of months ago that it would not make sense restoring those allowances.
This was after Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister in-charge of Tertiary Education and Deputy Communications Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, had been derided at the Wesley College in Kumasi when they went for a propaganda-laden programme.
The student booed them because their allowances had been cancelled, claiming that those ministers had used their allowances to buy SUV vehicles.
But Asiedu Nketia said he was convinced that there is no “political wisdom” in the continuous payment of the allowances.
He went on to serve notice that nothing would change the mind of government over the matter.
“I don’t see any political wisdom in continuing to utilize the resources we have in paying the privileged few and limiting the number of trainee students to 9,000 and be paying them allowances on top…it doesn’t make sense,” he underscored.
DAILY GUIDE has, however, picked signals that similar packages would be announced by government to fishermen, farmers, teachers and many more in the coming days under the guise of giving Ghanaians a bailout from the economic hardship; but ostensibly to win votes.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu