Minority Demands Full Pay for Health Workers

The Minority Health Caucus of Parliament has accused Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh of deceiving nurses, doctors, and other health professionals, as well as the general public, with claims that the government has approved funds to employ and pay them.

The Minority Health Caucus is now demanding the immediate extension of the expired financial clearance, prompt payment of all arrears owed, and reforms within the Health Ministry and the Ghana Health Service to prevent future lapses.

Many of these health professionals have worked tirelessly for nearly a year without pay, and what began as whispers of discontent has grown into a national outcry.

On Monday, October 13, 2025, Mr. Akandoh stood before the cameras, announcing what he called ‘good news’, that Cabinet had approved financial clearance to employ and settle arrears owed to nurses, doctors, and pharmacists. This announcement was expected to bring relief.

However, the Minority, in a swift response, called a press conference in Accra on Tuesday October 14 2025, accusing the minister of misleading the public.

The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Health Committee and MP for Effiduase-Asokore, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, did not mince words. He accused the minister of “throwing dust into the eyes of the people,” describing his statement as “an attempt to cover up a mess of the government’s own making.”

According to Dr. Afriyie, the financial clearance the minister referred to actually expired on December 31, 2024, under the previous administration. He claimed the Mahama government failed to renew the clearance before it lapsed, creating confusion and leaving thousands of nurses and midwives unpaid.

Backing the press conference, the Minority Health Caucus also released a strongly worded statement on the same day, describing the situation as one of “administrative neglect and political indifference.”

“The Minority Health Caucus of Parliament has noted with deep concern the ongoing agitations by newly recruited nurses and midwives who, after several months of diligent service to the Republic, remain unpaid.

These professionals, who were duly posted to health facilities across the country pursuant to an official financial clearance issued by the Ministry of Finance, have become victims of administrative neglect and political indifference”, the statement read.

They explained that the Ministry of Finance had originally issued clearance for the recruitment of over 13,000 nurses and midwives, which expired at the end of December 2024. While about 7,000 to 8,000 of them were employed in July 2024 and started receiving salaries, the rest, later engaged by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) , have not been paid since they began work.

The Minority insisted there was no legal or administrative barrier preventing the extension of the clearance. They argued that it is standard practice in the public sector to extend clearances when staff have already been recruited and are delivering essential services.

Dr. Afriyie questioned why the government only acted after public protests erupted.

“Why didn’t the government see the need to seek extension? Money was allocated for 15,000, you came in 7,000, or almost 8,000 have started. The remaining were employed by GHS. Albeit they were late, they were at post.

“You didn’t see the need to tell the institutions to reject them. Neither did the institutions tell you to reject them. What it meant was that they filled the gap and needed to be at post, and the institutions used them.  For political reasons, they did not extend it, and then 10 months down they face an embarrassment where the staff went on demonstration to draw your mind to this clearance and need for extension.

Embarrassingly enough, you’re saying that you have taken it to the cabinet for approval. What sort of cabinet approval do you need when you have clearance already?” he asked.

The Minority Health Caucus reminded the public that when health workers went on strike over unpaid salaries, they intervened out of patriotism to ensure patients were not left unattended.

“We demonstrated goodwill and a sense of national responsibility by appealing to them to return to work, so that the Ghanaian people would not suffer for the failures of this administration. This act of patriotism was not reciprocated by our colleagues in the Majority when similar difficulties arose during the previous Akufo-Addo administration in 2020,” they said,

The Caucus reaffirmed its commitment to stand with Ghana’s health workers.