Nurses give ultimatum

The Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) has given the "Ghana Palaver", a government sponsored newspaper 72 hours (ending on May 11) to prove allegations that its executives took a bribe of C3 million from the New Patriotic Party to organise the nation-wide nurses' demonstration on April 18. The allegation was made in the April 28 - May 4, 1995 issue of the paper.

At a press briefing in Accra, Mrs Emma Banga, President of the GRNA said, failing any proof from the paper, the association would advise itself. She said the association's 12,800 members are of different political persuasions and it is not possible for anyone to persuade the entire national executive to accept money from a particular political party to carry out a demonstration. She said if the Ghana Palaver found the demonstration well organised and the petition superb, co-ordinated and well planned, it is because nurses are united, intelligent and disciplined. Mrs Banga noted that it is insulting to the intelligence of nurses and defamatory for the "Ghana Palaver" to allege that nurses cannot write their own petitions and placards, but had to fall on a political party for assistance.