N/R NDC Parliamentary Caucus urges government to save Regional Hospital

Tamale, Oct. 5, GNA - The Northern Region NDC Parliamentary Caucus has called on the government to save the Tamale Regional Hospital from total collapse as a matter of urgency. The Parliamentary Caucus noted that with the closure of the main Medical Block there is extreme pressure on the few facilities now available at the Hospital. The Parliamentarians expressed these sentiments at a news conference in Tamale on Saturday to articulate the concerns of their constituents on a number of socio-economic issues confronting the region, in particular and the country as a whole.

Alhaji Abdulai Salifu, MP for Tolon and Chairman of the Caucus, who addressed the news conference, said poverty in the Northern Region had risen and it was now estimated that at least, seven out of 10 people had been classified as poor. He said: "Against this gloomy background, it became our unpleasant duty to announce and explain to our constituents that the NPP Government was imposing a further VAT of two and a half per cent as a result of the passage of the National Health Insurance Bill".

"We also pointed out the prospect of a further two- and-a half per cent increase, arising from the government's agreement with the International Monetary Fund", he added, saying, "this increase in the VAT rate will definitely worsen the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian as prices are bound to go up further."

The Caucus accused the government of exhibiting incompetence in the manner it is handling education, local government and road sectors, saying, "this is worsening the plight of our constituents". The MPs mentioned the GETFUND and the District Assemblies' Common Fund, which they said were set up principally to address the needs of students in the tertiary sector and to address district level development respectively. They explained that these are constitutional and statutory obligations, which should constitute the first charges on the budget and whose disbursements are circumscribed and controlled by rules and independent bodies to ensure transparency and equity.

The Caucus said, however: "The NPP Government has deliberately allowed these disbursements to fall into arrears and instead diverted the resources into the HIPC Relief Fund, which is neither constitutionally established nor statutorily created and whose disbursements are controlled by the government and its District Chief Executives alone". "HIPC is the political money-bag of the NPP and therefore, it must have preference over GETFUND, DACF and the Road Fund in the allocation of resources. "This is wrong, it is unconstitutional, it is illegal, it is non-transparent and it is inequitable", the Caucus pointed out, and said: "We call on the NPP Government to take immediate steps to freeze the diversion of resources into the so-called HIPC Relief Fund. "The government must comply with the Constitution and the law by paying the amounts owing to the DACF, the GETFUND and the Road Fund and ensure that contractors and suppliers are paid in full", the MPS said. They said the HIPC Relief Fund must be prioritised and the resources channelled into key social sectors such as the rehabilitation of the collapsing Tamale Regional Hospital.

The Caucus expressed its dismay and disappointment by "the brazenly unconstitutional manner in which the NPP administration is seeking to impose its will and control over the operations of the Electoral Commission in its preparation towards the upcoming 2004 general election." This was in apparent reaction to Cabinet's directive that a procurement committee, comprising representation from the Office of the Chief of Staff, the Attorney General's Department, Ministry of Finance and the Electoral Commission be instituted to supervise the procurement of electoral materials for the 2004 general election.

On the state of emergency in Dagbon, the Caucus noted that there appears to be some encouraging signs with the lifting of the curfew and a commitment by the Minister of the Interior "to roll back" the state of emergency altogether in four of the six districts in the area. The Parliamentarians expressed the hope that it should be possible to achieve complete normalcy in the whole of Dagbon by the removal of the state of emergency, which they considered "unduly long". They said, however, that this was dependent on achieving sustainable peace on the ground by satisfactorily resolving the outstanding issues relative to the traditional and customary situations in the area. "It also means that the government should demonstrate a commitment to vindicate the legitimate rights of the citizens by ensuring that people who have infringed the law by their criminal acts are brought to justice."

Among those present at the news conference were: Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, MP for Kumbungu and Minority spokesman on Constituional Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Alhaji Abukari Sumani, MP for Choggu/Tishigu, Alhaji Issah Abbah, MP for Chereponi and Mr Mohammed Jagri, MP for Zabzugu/Tatale.