Private legal practitioner and Director of Conflict Resolution of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abraham Amaliba, says the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ mantra of President Nana Akufo-Addo has fallen into the water.
This, he said, is because the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government has borrowed the country into debt and depends on donor support to survive.
He argued that other countries provide government aid before it can cater to the health needs of the Ghanaian people.
Mr Amaliba’s comments come on the back of the government’s apparent lack of interest in clearing all the 283 containers containing tuberculosis (TB), HIV/AIDS, and malaria medication, as well as treated mosquito nets that were stuck at the Tema.
The Global Fund for Community Foundation donated these medical supplies to Ghana free of charge, however, it has taken Ghana’s government and the Ministry of Health more than a year to clear the life-saving commodities.
Speaking on the TV3 New Day programme on Friday, Mr Amaliba heavily criticised the government for failing to clear medical supplies given to Ghana by the Global Fund donors.
He said, “you, as a government, said Ghana Beyond Aid; that slogan has fallen in [the] water; people are giving you aid so that you can help the ordinary Ghanaians you have refused to go and clear them.”
Additionally, the private legal practitioner wondered if there was a president in the country.
According to him, it is mind-boggling how the government is managing the affairs of the country.
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He alleged that the government has spent the clearing money the Global Fund made available for the payment of port charges to clear the medical supplies.
“The behavior of government in some of these things are ridiculous and amusing. You are a poor country you have borrowed this country in debt you can’t pay your debts, your economy has been downgraded and a Global Fund that is like a father Christmas has given you drugs to help your people.
“This government, if they will not benefit financially from anything, they have no business dealing with that thing for the people of this country,” he stated.
Asked about how the government stands to benefit financially from clearing the containers, Mr Amaliba said, “These are drugs so they will not benefit from it. They will only do that if they were going to benefit financially from it.”
“They will clear and then benefit but this one there’s no benefit coming out of it so they took the clearing money and chopped and then the drugs which were meant for all of us have been left to rot,” he told Berla Mundi, co-host of the New Day.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health, in a statement issued on Thursday, announced that the government has released some GHC7.4 million “to complement the payment of third-party charges as outlined above.”
According to the Ministry, it is expected that with the funds received, all outstanding containers will be cleared by the end of June 2024.