Korle-Bu Denies Doctors’ Strike

Authorities at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital have strongly denied that doctors at the hospital have laid down their tools in solidarity with their colleagues at the Komfo-Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) where consultants, government pharmacists and junior doctors have been on strike.
The CEO of the Hospital, Prof. Nii Otu Nartey who denied that doctors at the facility are on strike or intended to do so, told The Al-Hajj in an interview that as far as the management of the facility was concerned there is no cause for alarm.
Commenting on the state of affairs at KATH, the KBTH CEO noted that the situation was unfortunate, even though worth understanding adding that, genuine grievances though they may have, the approach may be the challenge.
Prof. Nartey said even though all is not well at KBTH, his management team and board of the hospital have adopted strong administrative policy and diplomacy to contain the situation adding that, effective human relations with heads of various units of the hospital have played a pivotal role in restoring mutual trust.
He explained that strike by government pharmacists and doctors compounds the obvious lapses in the nation’s healthcare delivery machinery and could have serious effects on the implementation of the national health policy.
It would be recalled that government pharmacists, medical consultants and some junior doctors embarked on a strike action over migration on to the Single Spine Salary Structure and top-up allowances for consulting doctors.
These actions according to reports led to the turning away of patients and deaths emanating from refusal to dispense drugs to patients and doctors not attending to cases.
The strike action by the consultants at Okomfo Anokye prompted the Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister; Mad. Anima Wilson questioned the sincerity of the doctors’ strike.
In an interview with Joy FM, Anima Wilson queried, “Why is it that Korle-Bu is working, Tamale is working and Okomfo Anokye is not working? What exactly is it? She reportedly asked”.
“Is is not the same administration? Is it not the same money to be paid at Ministry of Finance? Mad Anima added.
“The job of a doctor is to save lives and not to strike at the least misunderstanding” she is quoted to have said. However the striking doctors did not take kindly to Mad. Anima Wilson’s comments.
A spokesperson for the striking doctors Dr. Reindorf Larsen described the Deputy Minister’s comments as “an absolute insult on our intelligence”, saying it is unfortunate.
He is quoted as saying that “the problem of arrears of top-up allowances for doctors and consultants at the KATH have persisted for over five years which we have patiently borne”.
Ashanti Region, where the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital is situated is known to be the stronghold of the opposition New Patriotic Party.







Don’t Mix Religion and Politics-Alh. Galaxy






By Rowland Phillips Addo
The Northerners and Zongo Concerned Youth Association (NZCYA) have warned religious leaders in the country not to mix politics and religion.
Sounding the note of caution in an exclusive interview with The Al-Hajj over the weekend in Accra, the national organizer of the Northerners and Zongo Concerned Youth Association, Alhaji Abubakari Halidu Galaxy noted that “religion and politics are not bed-fellows and that conflicts raging in many parts of the world are indeed sparked by political considerations shrouded in religious garb”.
Alhaji Halidu Galaxy argued that recent pronouncements made by no less a person than the head of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, directed at the Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Afari Gyan in connection with the EC’s proposed creation of 45 more constituencies as the constitution mandates it to, amounts to the church dabbling in constitutional matters.
According to Alhaji Galaxy, the Christian and Islamic Clergy of Ghana are collectively placed in a strategic position to serve as a force for cohesion and national unity among socio-cultural and religious diversity, adding that this unique positioning must not to be toyed with.
Whiles not entirely segregating politics from religion, Alhaji Halidu Galaxy said “the nation is governed by the constitution and not the Bible or the Koran”, and said constitutional and political issues should not be allowed to undermine the religious values nurtured and established over time and which have served as a binding factor which consolidates the peace the country enjoys.
He indicated that it does not augur well for a religious denomination to exhibit any form of partisanship since such religious bodies are invariably made up of members of differing political persuasions, and could sow seeds of division among them.
Dwelling on Christian and Islamic relationship in the country, he indicated that inter-marriages between the two major religions in a secular state of Ghana have in a way broken the religious divide creating an atmosphere of tolerance and peaceful co-existence adding that these are qualities that make the people of Ghana a unique people”.
He asked Muslim and Christian youth alike not to allow to be used as stooges by politicians to foment or perpetrate acts of violence as the 2012 elections dawns on the nation.
He also cautioned people of northern extraction and all zongo youth to be mindful of their utterances and actions as to make them acceptable and respected in society and strive to effect positive changes in the lives of people in zongo communities that are often tagged “deprived”.
Two weeks ago, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) cautioned the Electoral Commission (EC) over its decision to create additional 45 new constituencies.
A communiqué issued by the Church and read by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), the Right Reverend Professor Emmanuel Martey noted that, although the EC had all the right to take any decision concerning the creation of the new constituencies, the Commission should consider the financial implications for the nation.

The Presby Moderator who failed to declare the position of the Church either for or against the creation of the new constituencies, appealed to the EC commissioner, Dr Afari-Gyan not to do anything that could cause problems for the country.





Nima NDC Group Demand…
SACK TEYE NYAUNU
-Dares him to mention corrupt NDC members





A political pressure group, Voice of NDC-Nima is daring National Democratic Congress (NDC) sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for Lower Manya, Michael Teye Nyaunu to substantiate and name officials of government he says are corrupt or resign honourably.
Alternatively, the group has challenged the leadership of the NDC to haul Mr. Teye Nyaunu before the disciplinary committee of the party to prove his allegation of government ministers and officials being corrupt.
The group, led by its spokesperson, Ismaila Horoya Ali, who stormed The Al-Hajj’s offices at Mamobi demanded that, if the Lower Manya MP, who is also affectionately called MTN fails to justify his accusation before the party’s disciplinary committees, the NDC must as a matter of necessity, invoke the full sanctions as outlined in the constitution of party.
The maverick NDC legislator for Lower Manya constituency in an interview with Citi News on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the government, claiming high level corruption among ministers and party officials.
“As for me, I say corruption is at its peak, how much do people earn in our government that people can put up two, three storey buildings within a year; how much is their salary.... I know ministers and deputy minister and officials who built two/three houses in one year, let them dare me, and I will mention their names”. Teye Nyaunu audaciously told Citi news.

He also said the NDC is not worthy of a second term because the party has not fulfilled its promises to the Ghanaian people over the last three and half years.
“The NDC has a lot of promises they have to fulfill which is impossible with few months for its term to expire…
“Indeed, the NDC has not fulfilled about 90% of its promises to Ghanaians; the NDC has simply failed the people.” He added.
But, the group, Voice of NDC-Nima is not enthused by the comments of the nonconformist MP whom they accused of having a secret agenda, in concert with some people within the NDC fraternity to send the party back into opposition.
Spokesperson of the Voice of NDC-Nima, Alhaji Ismaila Horoya Ali, supported by three other member, Ashmiew Mohamed, Sule Bawa and Alhaji Halidu Abubakari warned that should the NDC national executives fail to swiftly act on what they described as “Teye Nyaunu’s gross insubordination”, the party may sooner than later be plagued with widespread indiscipline.
“Please tell our leaders, we have had enough of the embarrassments by the Teye Nyaunus of this party, which is our heart and everything and therefore the earlier they take decisive action against him and others who continually drag the party’s image into disrepute, the better it shall be for all of us”. The group leaders told The Al-Hajj.
Mr. Nyaunu also accused the late President John Atta Mills of double standard and questioned why the NDC tried to present the late president as a saint, insisting, “It is only gullible people who will fall for such political gimmick”.
He cast doubts over the ability of President John Mahama to turn things around, saying “…I only pity President John Mahama.”




Agenda to make NDC a one term gov’t
‘KU NADU GYEWUMAEN’
…As NDP Poach NDC Members

Nana Konadu at a meeting with NDC supporters in Kumasi Monday 17th September 2012

When former President Rawlings and founder of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) used the above to describe the political weight of his wife and former first lady, little did we know that she has that fighting spirit to the dead end.
Threats posed by the newly licensed National Democratic Party (NDP), an offshoot of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the latter’s electoral fortune is fast growing by the day as the NDP intensifies its recruitment drive.
The NDP, believed to be the brain child of former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and consisting mainly of some disgruntled members of the NDC is leaving no stone unturned as the party embarks on an aggressive poaching of members from the mother party, the NDC.
The new party, bent on bringing to an end the NDC’s reign according to The Al-Hajj’s source at Ridge, is frantically enticing defeated and dissatisfied parliamentary aspirants of the NDC and some disenchanted members of the party into their fold.
Already, The Finder newspaper has published names of some prominent members of the NDC who are most likely to file as parliamentary candidates for the NDP
Some of the names of the probable failed NDC aspirants mentioned in The Finder report as likely to shift camp include; Mr. Daniel Gerald Tettey-Akomey of Yilo Krobo constituency, Rudolf Amenga-Etego, who contested as an independent candidate for Chiana-Paga in 2008, Mr. Mohammed Frimpong of Weija Constituency and Mr. Teye Nyaunu, NDC sitting member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo Constituency.
Over the last one week, The Al-Hajj’s office has been inundated with telephone calls, emails and facebook messages by people who described themselves as members of NDC reporting on how emissaries of the NDP have approached them with mouth-watering promises if they opt for the NDP.
A lady executive working with a state organization, with previous sympathies to FONKAR, only known to us as Naana, had this to say when she called our offices; “please tell the party (NDC) people, even though my sympathies are with the Rawlingses…, them tell the woman (Konadu) is aggressively recruiting NDC members into her fold. I was also approached”, she narrated, adding that “let them (NDC) wake up, it’s real”.
A Kwesi Mattew had this posited on our facebook wall: “I had a very interesting call last night, I say it was a very, very interesting call b'cos I can't fathom what on earth could have made anybody believe that I, Nana Kwesi Matthew could be bought or influenced by any financial/material, inducements…
“My resolve in the service of the nation vis-a-vis my convictions premised on the dictates of the social democratic probity and accountability ideology of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is solid and will forever remain unshaken for better and for worse... in over plentiness and in abject poverty... for sweeter and for bitter... for grace and for grass, till death do us apart...>>>>>>>>

“So let these confused principleless ingrates take their phantom hollow promises away from my face...

“Go and get your likes to deceive and influence..., don't you ever call my line again b'cos your voice makes me want to expose you to the whole world....” greeeeeeedy bastard!!!!!!!!
The Electoral Commission (EC) has issued a final certificate to the NDP last week Friday.

The party was said to have dispatched seven groups going round the country to mobilize its supporters for what promises to be a vigorous campaign ahead of the upcoming elections.



Soaring attractiveness of Ahonbrasihene John Mahama
BAWUMIA ORDERED!
SPEND A MONTH UP NORTH
-To counter the John ‘Magnetic’ Mahama fever



The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is seized with phobia over Ghana’s hottest political revelation, Ahobrasehene President John Dramani Mahama as the party grimly regrets the passing away of former president John Atta Mills.
Although, the whole nation was seen to be thrown into mourning when the announcement came on the 24th of July this year that the then president, John Atta Mills had died, the immediate reaction of some in the opposition NPP, was one of contentment since they saw the once popular and dominant candidate as no more a stumbling block to their quest to regain power.
Unknown to them, and like the popular saying; when one door shuts, another opens, the real worth of President Mills’ vice, John Dramani Mahama, was yet to be recognized.
Not even the earlier verdict by business magnate and Council of State Member, Alhaji Asuma Banda that, “Mr. John Mahama was the only vice president I have seen who is very visible whiles the rest are just spare tyres to their Presidents” could prick the conscience of the Doubting Thomases.
However, their disposition was not to last more than eight hours after Mills’ death and with the swearing-in of the then Vice President John Mahama as the President of Ghana, the NPP began revising its note.
President Mahama has since that fateful night endeared himself so much to majority of the people particularly, the people of northern Ghana, so much that, the NPP, according to a source close to its presidential candidate, Nana Akufo Addo has become very uncomfortable.
Reports reaching The Al-Hajj from the three northern regions and Zongo communities across the country indicate that the opposition NPP is fast losing grip on its supporters of northern extraction to the ruling NDC candidate.
This, according to a source, has prompted the flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Akufo Addo and his campaign team and strategists to dispatch his running-mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to the north with firm instructions to remain there for a month to ensure that he is able “to hold-back the John Mahama craze”.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has since last Wednesday arrived in the northern regional capital, Tamale, and is expected to spend 16 days touring the constituencies.
The 2012 running mate of Nana Akufo Addo is also expected to move to the Upper East and West regions where he will spend seven days in each region.