“Gov’t Clears Gh¢1 Billion Out Of Gh¢1.2 Billion NHIS Inherited Debt” – President Akufo-Addo
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo, has revealed that his administration is reviving the
strength of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which, under
the Mahama government, was being strangled by debt.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “of the GH¢1.2
billion debt we inherited, the equivalent of $300 million, we have paid,
in the last 15 months, GH¢1 billion, the equivalent of $250 million.”
He added that payments to service providers, since his government took office in January 2017, are current.
As a result, “the Scheme is regaining its
effectiveness, so that for a minimum amount, subscribers can have access
to a wide range of medical services.”
President Akufo-Addo made this known on Saturday,
21st April, 2018, when he delivered the keynote speech at the London
School of Economics’ Africa Summit, on the theme “Africa at Work:
Educated, Employed, Empowered.”
Addressing a packed gathering, President Akufo-Addo
noted that the urgent responsibility confronting the continent is to
make African countries attractive for African youth, and for them to see
the Continent to see as places of opportunities.
“It means we must provide education, quality
education and skills training. It means our young people must acquire
the skills that run modern economies,” he said.
The President indicated that with the African Union’s
Agenda 2063, titled The Africa We Want, calling for an education and
skills revolution to meet the human resource needs for inspiring
Africa’s socio-economic development, he noted that the AU has, quite
correctly, placed high premium on science, technology and innovation as
critical ingredients to the achievement of Agenda 2063.
“The provision of education for our young people
should not become an ideological tussle. We should never have to make a
choice between basic education or higher education. We should never have
to rely on the World Bank or any other institution to decide for us
where the emphasis should be in our education needs,” the President
said.
Whilst stressing that education is the key to
Africa’s development, he noted that African countries must run their
economies to be able to fund the education of African children.
“We should not get into arguments with donor agencies
about our priorities. We must set our own priorities, and we must
accept that we should provide the funds to translate our plans into
reality,” he said.
The President continued, “That is why, despite the
bleak economic situation my government inherited, we decided to
implement immediately the pledge we had made about providing Free Senior
High School education. The most dramatic aspect of its implementation
has been that 90,000 more students entered senior high school in
September last year, the first term of the policy, than in 2016.”
He was confident that “if we stop being beggars, and
spend Africa’s monies inside the continent, Africa would not need to ask
for respect from anyone. We would get the respect we deserve.”
President Akufo-Addo also revealed further that, in
Ghana, whereas the indications are that the economic dividends are on
the horizon, there are other areas where the nation is thriving.
The media in Ghana, he said, has come into its own,
and what used to be called the culture of silence has been replaced with
a cacophony that now worries some.
“I have said it before, and I believe it bears
repeating, I would much rather put up with a reckless press than a
monotonous, praise-singing one. A democracy has no place for a media
that does not keep public authorities on their toes,” he added.
He stressed that “I am a firm believer in a strong
and vibrant media, and I have no doubt that it is a force for good, no
matter how irritating and how irksome they can be and often are. They
provide the avenue for the other point of view.”
In concluding, he indicated that “our success story
and changed narrative come with building our economies that are not
dependent on charity and handouts. Then we shall put an educated,
employed and empowered Africa to work, and repudiate the recent culture
of failure. We shall then take our rightful place in the world.”
No comments
Your comments and Encouragement are welcome