Mr. President, Is This What You Promised?

Good day sir, I trust and hope all is well with you and the entire family?

Mr president, i hope you will recall this statement during your inaugural speech some where January 7 , 2018 " I will therefore entreat all Ghanaians to be citizens and not spectators". Sir, we'll do rightly as you said and make sure we criticise you on some of the wrong doings in your administration.

Mr president, in November last year when our finance minister ( Mr Ken Ofori Atta) stood on the floor of parliament to present the financial statement of our dear nation for 2018, he stated categorically that the government has set aside 600 million cedis which would be used for the Nation Builders Corps ( NABCOP). After this statement by the finance minister, the Parliament as part of their duties called the employment and labour relations minister (Hon. Ignatius Awuah) to explain how the supposed 600 million cedis would be used. In his response, he said the graduates who'll be recruited into the corps will work for a period of 10 months and receive a sum of 600 cedis per month. Now, we are in the fourth month of the year with almost eight months to go, however, this programme has not yet being launched let alone to commence. My question is, even if this so called program kick starts in may, that means the graduates will work for a period of 8 months and this will amount to 480 million per year, so will the remaining 120 cedis be accounted for?

Again, my attention has been drawn to a fact that your government is finding ways and means to push the bonded unemployed nurses and allied health professionals unto the Nation Builders Corps. Sir, this to me is very unfair! , have we so soon gotten to a level where nurses will complete their education and be enrolled unto a temporal program such as this? How do we as a nation expect a graduate nurse to work for an amount of 700 cedis per month. Sir, in case you don't know, let me tell you for a fact that during their national service periods, these nurses were paid 781 Ghana cedis as monthly allowance, how then do you expect this same people to work for 700 cedis a month?

Sir, in case this is what you have decided to do, then you better stop because these nurses have vowed to resist any attempt by your government to enroll them on the nations builders corps initiative. Ghana as a nation has not even attained the accepted nurse to patient ratio so please re think about the whole issue again because if you do that, then you are gradually making the nursing profession unattractive and I don't even think any of your ministers would be happy if he or she was to be a nurse and found himself or herself in a situation like this. How would your ministers feel if they wake up one morning just to hear they've been reassigned from their ministerial positions to be electoral area coordinators or polling station coordinators? Is this not an insult to them?

Sir, you told us in the 2016 campaign that we have money in the system so you don't see why nurses and graduate teachers should be unemployed, today, you are in power and you seem to be singing a different song.

Sir, the information minister said that government has budgeted for the recruitment of 32000 nurses this way and I don't want to believe that the said number is part of those who'll be enroll unto the nations builders corps. If it happens that the graduate nurses are part of this so called nation builders corps, then Mr president, be prepared for a massive demonstration because it will be unfair to treat nurses these way. We'll demonstrate till our plights are addressed. We won't accept to be part of the NABCOP neither today nor tomorrow. Enrolling us unto the initiative is an insult to the whole nursing fraternity. The right thing needs to be done and this is the time.

Finally, Sir, you also promised us of one district one factory, and I can tell you for a fact that most Ghanaians voted for you because of what you told them, its been almost fifteen months since you ascended the throne and as of now, not even a single factory has been put up. I remember vividly somewhere last year when the deputy trades minister said on mid day news on peace FM that by the close of last year, 51 factories will be ready, Mr president, you and I are all here in the country and we can all attest to the fact that not even a single factory has been put up. You have almost two years to go and Mr president, I don't really think you can achieve that objective of establishing the 216 factories . Sir, gradually gradually, all indications show that you have failed Ghanaians per your fifteen months in office.

There are more things to address, however, I don't want to bore you too much because the day is still young.

Have a wonderful day sir and my regards to everyone in the flagstaff house . .

Kwame Asante
Concerned citizen
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