Unemployed Bonded Nurses And Midwives Grow Wild

Aggrieved unemployed bonded nurses and midwives nearly resorted to violence as means to draw the attention of the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, over their delayed financial clearance despite several government assurances.

The nurses and midwives, who number about 7,589, had since February this year, been mounting pressure on the government to give them financial clearance, yesterday, threatened to march to Jubilee House [the Seat of Government] in Accra to picket there.

This was as they have been without employment for two years, and their contract with the government also prevents them from seeking jobs and education opportunities elsewhere, and it would further affect their work promotion in future.

However, with the timely intervention by the police, the protestors, under the name Coalition of Unemployed Nurses and Midwives, were stopped and prevented from making any advances toward Jubilee House, which is a security zone.

After several attempts by the police to advise the protestors to rescind their decision to march and picket at Jubilee House, they (nurses) still insisted that they would go, as they are already in dire the situation of staying at home without employment for two years.

As agitated as they were, they continued to inquire from the police why they were being denied access to Jubilee House to make their plight known to the President, who is currently in Germany, in case all the meetings and petitions presented to the ministries of Finance and Health had not reached him.

Shouting and chanting 'Chooboi…' to encourage themselves for the purposed march, they told the media that if dancehall musician Shatta Wale was allowed access to Jubilee House, why were they being denied same.

At scene on the Ridge Road compelled the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Adusei Sarpong, and the Director of Political Affairs at the office of the Chief of Staff, Frank Aseidu Bekoe, to address them on the street.

Mr. Bekoe told them: “Be rest assured that a government that has restored nursing training allowance will care for you…also be rest assured that a lot of nurses have been employed under this government. And all that we are saying is that tomorrow (today), we are going to meet your leadership and accept your grievances, and will sit together on how we will be able to resolve this matter amicably, because we are aware that you are also Ghanaians and you need to work.

“Nobody will deny you employment, it is the duty of the government to make sure that its citizens also decently employed. The government will take that challenge, and we are going to meet your leadership and take it up from there.”

But despite the assurance the Director of Public Affairs gave, the Coalition members went on screaming “We are tired and hungry; it is not true; we are not here for allowances; we are here for posting.”

The police managed to arrest five of the protestors who defied the warning, but were granted bail after three hours to report to the Regional Police Headquarters today.   

Mankil Mohamed Nashiru, a former student of the Kintampo College of Health, told The Chronicle that they completed their training in 2016, and mandatory service in 2017, and all efforts to gets financial clearance and posting had proven futile.

“We have used all protocols of meeting the Vice President, Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, Minister for Health and Minister for Finance, just to have our way through to have a peaceful dialogue in order for use to be posted, but none of them yielded any result.”

He said they decided to march to Jubilee House thinking the petitions they had sent to all the relevant institutions had not reached the President, so that he may listen to them personally.