Ministerial Vetting: Five questions the Health Minister-nominee is likely to face

While the bigger house has fallen victim to the coronavirus hence the three-week shutdown, the Appointments Committee which is made up of twenty-six MPs will from today, February 10, 2021 commence a very important constitutional mandate.

The MPs acting on behalf of entire Ghanaian citizenry will for the next few weeks grill ministerial nominees presented by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his second term.

Unlike previous vetting where little interested was vested in by the public, this year’s vetting is expected to witness some drama due to the composition of the committee and the conduct of some of the nominees.

On the hot seat, today is the Health Minister-nominee, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu and the National Security nominee Albert Kan-Dapaah.

The committee begins with the vetting of Kwaku Agyemang Manu and as part of GhanaWeb’s build-up, we bring you five issues which are likely to dominate the vetting.

Coronavirus

The earlier gains made by the country in the battle against the coronavirus appears to be eroding with the rising number of cases and deaths.

The UK variant of the virus has been found to be spreading rapidly among Ghanaians and there are concerns that a lockdown could be in the offing.

Since the turn of the year, over 5000 new cases have been recorded and the Minority MPs particularly have accused the government of letting its guard down.

When Agyemang-Manu faces the committee, he will be asked questions on the cause of the rise and measures being made to tackle it.

Also, the issue of how the government intends to roll out the vaccination plans will likely come up.

Coronavirus funds

This is one of the things that Minority MPs have hammered on in the past few months.

Last month, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu accused the government of misappropriating the funds accrued from donors and other sources.

He called for an investigation into it. Also there have been concerns that the coronavirus committee which is supervised by former Attorney General Gloria Akuffo has not been transparent with Ghanaians.

Though the committee is under the presidency, the Health Minister has oversight responsibility there as well and will be interrogated on what the funds have been used for, more especially after it emerged that the government is considering using part of the funds to establish a development bank.

District Hospitals

One of the lessons derived from the coronavirus pandemic is the expansion of the country’s health infrastructure.

In light of this, President Akufo-Addo in May 2020 announced that beginning July same year, the government was going to embark on an infrastructure drive which will see it construct 88 district hospitals.

The president also added that six new regional hospitals were going to be constructed.

Reports indicate that not much progress has been made on this promise so when Agyemang-Manu meets the Appointment Committee, we expect it to feature prominently.

No Bed Syndrome

Between 2018 and 2020, there were series of protests and media campaigns over the lack of adequate beds at the various health facilities.

The government was compelled to procure 1000 beds to salvage the situation but that did little to solve the perennial problem.

Since the turn of the year, there have been widespread reports of hospitals turning away patients due to unavailability of beds.

Agyemang-Manu will most likely be questioned on how he intends to resolve the situation.

Conditions of service for health workers and recruitment

A simple search on the internet will reveal a countless number of times health professionals have embarked on demonstrations or strikes due to poor working conditions.

These labour issues have featured prominently in the last four years with Agyemang-Badu at the helm as Health Minister.

Also following the armed robbery attack last weekend, it has emerged that while the ambulances are insured, the emergency service workers have no form of insurance.

These issues will most likely be raised when Agyemang-Manu meets the committee.