News:
August 19, 2025
The Minority has condemned the unlawful conduct of Mr. Ralph St. Wiliams for storming the premises of the Ridge Hospital in the company of a group of men on Monday, August 18, 2025, in a video circulating on social media.
According to a statement issued by the Minority caucus on health and signed by the ranking Dr. Nana Ayew Afriye, Mr. Ralph was shouting aggressively, filming health professionals, patients, and visitors without their consent, and causing undue disruption to the sanctity of a medical environment.
He noted that, his behaviour constitutes an affront to public order, the privacy of patients, and the dignity of their hardworking health professionals.
“We note with disquiet that this same individual was only recently involved in a public altercation with a minority Member of Parliament, which required police intervention. His latest misconduct forms part of a worrying pattern of behaviour that ought to attract national censure rather than tacit endorsement”.
Dr. Ayew further noted in his statement that, it is troubling that the Health Minister is seen in the company of Mr. Ralph St. Williams in a cordial interaction, a development which raises serious questions about the extent to which the ruling government has chosen to embolden and romanticize such conduct for narrow partisan advantage.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the government has, by its silence and gestures of accommodation, given licence to individuals aligned with or sympathetic to the National Democratic Congress to engage in needless acts of intimidation, disorder and political violence under the guise of activism.
And such selective tolerance erodes public trust in our democratic institutions and further undermines the morale of frontline professionals who already labour under strenuous conditions, he added.
The Minority Health Caucus thus extended their deepest apologies to the management, staff, patients, and visitors of Ridge Hospital for the disruption caused by this wholly unwarranted intrusion.
They called on the Ghana Police Service to thoroughly investigate the incident and take the necessary legal action to deter future occurrences. “The sanctity of our health facilities must be preserved at all times and under no circumstances should political opportunism or governmental negligence be allowed to compromise the peace and safety of these vital institutions”.
The Minority also urged the minister of health to set an enquiry jointly with the parliamentary select on health to unravel issues leading to this unfortunate incidence.
The Minority Health Caucus remains committed to safeguarding the rights of patients, protecting health workers from intimidation, and ensuring that our national healthcare system is never subjected to partisan abuse.
Ghanamps.com