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Opinions of Monday, 17 October 2011

Columnist: Sayibu, Akilu

Is It Because Veterinary Doctors Are Not On Strike?

It is official and known to every Ghanaian and even the World that, the First couples of the republic of Ghana are living with dogs. This revelation was made public by the First-Lady Naadu Mills during an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) last year.
After that unpopular interview, the debate in Ghana then, was that: “Is that the reason the government of the NDC has no any serious programs for Children and Unemployed graduates”? This line of reasoning was so justified considering the fact that, for the first time in the history of Ghana, University graduates who are unable to secure jobs with their hard-earned qualifications have formed the unpopular “Unemployed Graduates Association” in Ghana.
This Mills/Mahama government it is being speculated in some circles is the worst government in the living memory of Ghana! Glorification of insults, Ministers attacking TV hostess on air, broad-day killings in front of police stations, kidnapping of a chief in the Brong Ahafo Region by an NDC chief, armed-robbery on the ascendancy, menace of foot-soldiers beating everybody including even their own party officers etc. It is a long list which will be treated separately another day.
However, an action of the government that has generated interesting questions is how the government managed to get doctors of the country to embark on a strike action that any sensible, reasonable and caring government would have prevented by all means considering the fact that, it is lives that are at risk here.
If the doctors on strike are being provocatively described as heartless for embarking on a strike action which was their last resort, what name should be given to the government who bathed the doctors with serial excuses and in some cases insults that led to the current strike? To me the answer is “MURDERERS”!
No wonder some people are asking: if the government would have maintained this posture of even allowing his health minister to go on a leave in the middle of a strike action if veterinary doctors were on strike?
The reason they are asking if veterinary doctors, is because the First-Couple live with dogs and what would have happened if “sweetie pie” or “Candy” were sick? Mind you “Sweetie pie” and “Candy” are the names of some of the dogs that Mr. and Mrs. Mills are living with.

The government in my view must be held responsible for all the lives that will be lost as a result of the current strike action that is being embarked upon by doctors in Ghana which in the opinion of many could have been avoided.
While it is my view that, the government should face all the blame for the deaths emanating from the strikes, I did like to appeal to the doctors to return to the stethoscope and needles in the name of God and service to mankind.
AKILU SAYIBU is the New Patriotic Party Parliamentary Candidate for the Tamale North constituency for election 2012.

Email: Akilu.sayibu@live.uwe.ac.uk