Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwifery Association (GRNMA) has bemoaned governments decision to waive tax exemptions on imported vehicles to only members of the Ghana Medical Association.
The Minister of Finance, said during the presentation of the 2024 budget statement in parliament that ’’Government will engage the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) on waivers for the importation of vehicles to ease the transportation burden of doctors’’.
In reaction, the President of the GRNMA, Mrs Perpetual Ofori Ampofo, in an interview on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on the 22nd November, 2023, said the vehicle imports tax waiver was an incentive introduced during former President John A. Kufour’s administration to motivate health workers.
“That was issued during former president Kufour’s administration under the NPP government, so for us we think if the NPP government is bringing it back, especially when they captured it in their manifesto, then it should cover all of us in the medical profession,” she demanded.
According to Mrs Ofori Ampofo, the vehicle imports tax waiver, if extended to nurses and midwives, could serve as an incentive to curb the current menace of brain drain them. It will prevent members who leave Ghana in droves in search of greener pastures abroad.
“For us as nurses and midwives, we do believe, we have to benefit from the waiver. At this time when we have a lot of our colleagues going abroad, this waiver could serve as a motivation to actually stay and work” she said.
She lamented that the GRNMA since 2020 has been pushing for the reintroduction of that waiver only to hear that it will be reintroduced for the benefit of only members of the Ghana Medical Association.
“We have been pushing for it since 2020. Right after COVID, we met with President Akuffo- Addo and the Vice President where on both occasions, we presented a document which included the reinstitution of the tax waiver, so we do believe if it has been captured in the budget, then it must include the nurses and midwives.’’
She complained about the discrimination against nurses and midwives in Ghana.
She said although the GRNMA presented a petition to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, “all health practitioners in Ghana currently enjoy the 13th month allowance, except nurses and midwives”
Meanwhile, the President of the GRNMA believes that before implementing the waiver in 2024, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, should engage them to avoid any protests.
By Clara Boadi Konadu