A fresh controversy has erupted between the Minority in Parliament and the government following what the opposition describes as “a calculated attempt
A fresh controversy has erupted between the Minority in Parliament and the government following what the opposition describes as “a calculated attempt to deceive health workers” over financial clearance and payment of arrears owed to nurses, midwives, and other medical professionals.
The dispute began after the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, held a press conference in Accra on Monday, October 13, 2025, assuring the public that government had secured Cabinet approval to settle all outstanding arrears for health workers by November.
He also announced that financial clearance had been granted for the recruitment of various categories of health professionals, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.
The announcement was meant to calm growing tension within the health sector, following months of protests and complaints from unemployed and unpaid nurses across the country.
However, the Minority says the Minister’s statement was misleading and politically motivated.
At a separate press conference, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Health Committee and MP for Effiduase-Asokore, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, accused the Minister of engaging in “propaganda instead of governance.”
According to him, the so-called Cabinet approval was merely an attempt to repackage existing commitments made by the previous administration.
Dr. Afriyie explained that the financial clearance referred to by the Health Minister had been issued under the previous government but expired on December 31, 2024, after the Mahama-led administration failed to renew it.
He alleged that although the previous government had allocated funds to recruit about 15,000 health workers, only between 7,000 and 8,000 were engaged before the change in administration.
“The rest were later absorbed by the Ghana Health Service even though their financial clearances had lapsed. There was no need to seek new Cabinet approval when the funds were already available. What the Minister is doing now is trying to take political credit for something that should have been done months ago,” Dr. Afriyie said.
The Minority insists that the government’s narrative is a cover-up for its inability to effectively manage the employment and remuneration of health workers.
They accuse the Mahama administration of creating confusion and raising false hopes among thousands of unemployed nurses who have been waiting for clearance and salary payments since early 2024.
“He’s throwing dust into the eyes of the people,” Dr. Afriyie stated, adding that the Health Minister’s press briefing was an attempt to “rewrite history” and shift blame rather than take responsibility for administrative failures.
The controversy comes at a time when several health unions, including the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) and the Health Service Workers’ Union, have been pressing the government to settle months of unpaid allowances and resolve recruitment delays that have left many health professionals stranded.
Akandoh had earlier claimed that 883 medical house officers who began work in 2024 without pay have now been placed on payroll, while another 321 pharmacists and 203 doctors have received their overdue allowances.
He also promised that 15,755 rotation nurses and midwives, together with 2,154 allied health interns, will receive payments by November 2025.
Despite these assurances, the Minority remains skeptical, questioning why government waited nearly ten months into its tenure to act on clearances that had already been processed.
“The truth is that the funds and recruitment plan were inherited. The delays and confusion are of their own making,” Dr. Afriyie charged.
The issue has once again exposed the deep political divide over how successive governments handle human resource management in the health sector.
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