News:
June 11, 2025
The Minority in Parliament has admonished the government to change its posture towards the striking Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) in order to minimize the casualties at the various health facilities.
Dr Afriyie Ayew addressing the media in parliament said the government is acting in bad faith in implementing the agreement duly signed by all institutions mandated to do so.
“It is our belief that governance is a continuous process regardless of which party is in government public servants are paid, collective bargaining rights which are agreed on remain their rights regardless of which government takes over after elections.”
He pointed out that in May 2024, GRNMA had an agreement with the government with an implementation date on July 1, 2024. However, this could not be materialized due to a disagreement from the Professional psychiatric Nurses Association of Ghana took the matter to court which was duly decided on January 25, 2025.
Since then, the government has failed to implement the agreement despite several calls from the nurses for the government to do the needful.
He affirmed that the Minority does not believe that the nurses are at fault, “they are within their rights”.
He asserts that all the demands in the agreement are justified but the government has not seen the need to engage them since January so the nurses filled undermined as far as their rights are concerned leading to the strike. “Even taking them to court is an extreme case of bad faith, you don’t; everybody is being assertive, they have their rights within the law, you cannot use the law to checkmate them, that’s not right”, he added.
They urged the government to change its posturing, respect them, situation with them and let them know what the government can offer.
He underscored the need for the finance minister to take advantage of the upcoming mid-year budgetary review to make provisions for the nurses.
Mr Ayew Afriyie also appealed to the nurses to consider the plight of the public and sit with the government to chart a path going forward.
Ghanamps.com