NDC Cronyism Has Reached Our Hospitals -NPP-USA

There is a new definition of the word ‘Cronyism’ and it has the NDC logo on it. It is no secret that the NDC has ushered in an open season on mostly anyone with Akan sounding name. It began in the security agencies where celebrated officers in the Ghana Armed Forces with Akan sounding names were inexplicably removed, and in some cases forced to retire. Then in the energy sector, Tsatsu Tsikata has not only loaded the sector with his lieutenants but is said to have literally handed the exclusive public relations contract to his wife. The latest NDC cronyism has found its way to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Here again the casualty is one Dr. S. Y. Oppong. Without any explanation, Dr. Oppong has been removed from his position as head of the Sub-Budget Management Center (sub-BMC). His replacement? Professor Percy Newman, the retired wife of President Mills’ Chief of Staff Martey Newman, a decision that has run into fierce resistance from the staff. According to a report filed by Daily Guide’s Charles Takyi-Boadu, “workers at the central lab are contemplating on embarking on a possible demonstration or sit-down strike to back home their demand for the removal of Prof. Newman.”

“What seems to anger most of the staff is the ‘strange’ circumstance under which Prof Newman was handpicked from her retirement by the board of the hospital which is chaired by Professor Seth Aryeetey, considering the fact that they have an existing rotational structure for choosing their heads,” the report further stated. So why would an existing rotation system be subverted to return a retiree who happens to be the wife of the president’s Chief of Staff to a position as vital as the sub-BMC? Is President Mills aware of this, or they sneaked it in when he was away for medical check-up?

The messages couldn’t be more ironic. Here is a president whose policies have been Anti-American, who chooses nowhere else to seek medical treatment but an American Hospital (Memorial Sloan Hospital in Manhattan, New York), who lies to Ghanaians upon arrival that he did not go for medical treatment because he has faith in Ghanaian doctors, and whose Chief of Staff is busy destabilizing our nation’s premier hospital by removing a high performing head of Sub-Budget Management in order to replace him with his retired wife. This can only happen in an out-of-control NDC-led Ghana.

“The situation is said to be affecting morale and productivity at the place since staff of the laboratory are said to have adopted a cold attitude towards work and vowed not to cooperate with their new boss since they prefer to work with Dr Oppong,” according to the Daily Guide report. NHIS is in tatters because, there again, Director Ras Boateng has been inexplicably removed.

Meanwhile The President, the Energy Minister, and other high ranking officials choose to seek medical attention in the United States. Minister of Tourism Zita Okaikwei elects to deliver her baby in the United States to get the best medical care and her child acquires American citizenship by default. All these paint a simple picture: destroy our medical institutions while reserving superior medical care for NDC government officials overseas. This cannot continue. We members of NPP-USA call on President Mills to reinstate Dr. S. Y. Opong with immediate effect to avoid an apparent systematic destruction of our nation’s medical structures.