Wednesday, 15th September, 2021b

Page 6
DAILY ANALYST Wednesday, 15th September, 2021
Story: Freeman
Koryekpor Awlesu
Members of the 2020
Vetting Committee
of Metropolitan,
Municipal and
District Chief Executives
(MMDCEs) in the Greater
Accra have recommended the
re- appointment of the incumbent
Weija-Gbawe Municipal Chief
Executive (MCE), Mr Patrick Kwesi
Brako Kumor.
The committee’s report
appealed to President Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo to maintain
Mr Kumor as the Weija-Gbawe
MCE to ensure transformation of
the area.
In the report, which is in
possession of DAILY Analyst, the
members of the vetting committee
after vetting the prospective
candidates vying for the position
of the MCE in the area shortlisted
three in the persons of Mr Kumor,
Mr Stephen Owusu Afriyie, Mr
Robert Nii Armah Tagoe to be appointed
by President Akufo-Addo
for the position as the MCE.
But the members of the
vetting committee have taken
their decision by way of recommending
the incumbent MCE to
the President to re-appoint him to
continue to work for another four
years.
The committee report recommended
Mr Kumor for renomination
as MCE, adding that he
worked tirelessly to ensure the
New Patriotic Party (NPP) increase
its votes in the constituency.
The report indicated that Mr
Kumor also campaigned effectively
in every corner of the Weija-Gbawe
constituency.
According to the report, the
sitting MCE has forged a good
relationship with party executives
in the constituency, and he
particularly, ensured the tripod
Retain Weija-Gbawe MCE
—MMDCEs Vetting Committee
appeal to Akufo-Addo
worked effectively in the course of
his work.
It noted that he was the Weija-Gbawe
constituency campaign
manager for the NPP in the 2016
election and a former constituency
first vice chairman from
2013-2017.
The report said Mr Kumor
holds AACA Part II, adding that
he is currently pursuing BSc in
Accounting Information System
at the Regent University College.
Speaking in an interview with
DAILY Analyst after the recommendation
of the committee went
viral on both local and traditional
media platforms, some assembly
members in the fourteen (14)
Electoral Areas in Weija-Gbawe
including some chiefs, traditional
office holders, market folks
and faith-based organisations
welcomed the decision of the
committee to recommend for
re-appointment of Mr Kumor.
They overwhelming declared
their support for the reappointment
of Mr Kumor, describing the
MCE as a “unifier, peacemaker and
good listener.”
Speaking on behalf of the
Weija-Gbawe Municipal assembly
members, the Assemblyman for
New Gbawe Electoral Area, Mr
Andrew Oppong Amoako noted
that the fourteen assembly members
including seven government
appointees endorsed the second
term bid of Mr Kumor to continue
his “good works.”
They showcased the three-year
achievements of the current MCE,
and called on President Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo to consider
the good works of Mr Kumor for
the past years and retain him.
According to them, the success
of the assembly was accomplished
with the able leadership demonstrated
by Mr Kumor, saying that
he had “proven beyond all reasonable
doubts” that the President
of the Republic made the right
choice by appointing him as the
MCE.
However, they cautioned that
they will boycott voting if their
appeal was not considered.
“We are appealing to President
Akufo-Addo that if someone
else is brought to us aside from
our MCE, we will vote against that
new person,” they averred.
The assembly members noted
that the municipality had benefitted
from several developmental
projects including schools, hospitals,
sporting facilities, water
and sanitation, law and security,
economic development and roads
all under the leadership of Mr
Kumor.
According to them, the MCE
has demonstrated a very good
working relationship with the
chiefs, assembly members, market
folk(s), persons living with disabilities
(PWDs), students, traditional
office holders and religious
leaders, which has contributed
to the massive development in
the 14 electoral areas within the
municipality.
"The MCE is someone who
believes in development, as such,
if he is given another chance
to continue with his vision, the
municipality would become one
of the best in the Greater Accra
Region," they said.
They stated that Mr Kumor is
one of the best MCEs the country
has had in recent years and his
vision, integrity, commitment and
selfless dedication had brought
tremendous development which
have helped shaped the municipality
as a whole.
"We are informing our listening
President that changing Mr
Kumor will cause delays in the
progress of Weija-Gbewe Municipality,
considering the goods and
services he has rendered to the
municipality since his appointment.
"The MCE has done nothing
wrong to be changed and has
served the people well since he assumed
office and that any attempt
to sack him will bring a retrogression
in our areas.
The assembly members
touched on various roads that
had been constructed under the
administration of Mr Kumor, in
the last three years.
In the area of drainage facilities,
"we want to state that more
drainages have been constructed
by the MCE to stop flooding in the
municipality.
They indicated that under the
leadership of Mr Kumor, about
two thousand (2,000) streetlights
have been fixed in the municipality
to prevent criminal activities to
ensure the security of the people
in the area.
To ease pressure on Akawe,
they said, the MCE ordered for the
construction of CHPS compounds
for satellite areas that would require
other health posts.”
These places included Oblogo,
Tetegu, and Weija.
Writer's email: koryekporfreeman@yahoo.com
NHIS is financially sustainable
Story: Freeman
Koryekpor Awlesu
The Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of National
Health Insurance Authority
(NHIA), Dr Lydia
Dsane-Selby, has stated
categorically that the National
Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)
is financially sustainable after
eighteen (18) years of its formation
in Ghana by former President
John Agyekum Kufuor.
According to her, the scheme
financial sustainability has
increased from 20 per cent to 35
per cent, saying that since the establishment
of the scheme, there
have been remarkable improvement
in the quality of healthcare
service delivery by providers of
the scheme.
But she was quick to state
that the financial sustainability
of the scheme would be under
serious threat if measures were
not put in place to check timely
release of funds by the Ministry
of Finance, rising medicine price
and anticipated slow growth of
the economy.
According to her, some urgent
steps needed to be taken collectively
to mitigate and strengthen
the scheme to help achieve the
—NHIA CEO declares
expected outcome.
She noted that a sustainability
test conducted by her office revealed
that, currently, the scheme
was sustainable but was faced
with these three major challenges
some of which measures have
been put in place by the Ministry
of Health to address.
Speaking in a one-on-one
interview with GH-One TV to
give update to Ghanaians on
the current state of affairs of
Ghana's healthcare system on
the scheme, Dr Dsane-Selby
asserted that the management of
the scheme have just built an actuarial
model, putting in various
scenarios to see how financially
sustainable the scheme is.
"I can tell you that most of
the scenarios say we are financially
sustainable. I think it is
about how we implement our
own policies. There are some key
factors that may affect sustainability.
"One is obviously the timely
release of funds from the ministry
of finance. Also, to make
sure that the country’s economic
growth is on the rise because the
National Health Insurance Levy
(NHIL) is tied to how the economy
is doing. Another key factor is
the rate of increase in medicine
prices.
"When we put in three or
four scenarios and realised that
if medicine prices continue to
escalate at the level they are now,
then the scheme is not sustainable;
this is something we have
to address.
"A costing exercise has been
done for services which are ready
to be disseminated. The Ministry
of Health has also introduced a
framework for contracting in the
bid to halt the rapid escalation of
medicine prices.
"I understand from the WHO
we have some of the highest
medicine prices in the world and
some of the highest escalation of
medicine prices and if we don’t
address it, the scheme is really
not sustainable," she stated.
Dr Lydia Dsane-Selby warned
that "if tomorrow we decide to
put every deceased on every medicine
in the world on the scheme
it would collapse."
She added that "It is about
using evidence to do what the
country needs and what impact
the greatest numbers of people
and do it in the step wide function.
According to her, the NHIS
largely depends on the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), saying that
as the country's GDP rises the
scheme has more money.
This, she said, depended on
the timely release of funds by the
government through the Ministry
of Finance.
From this test conducted by
the NHIA, the NHIS would be
facing some difficult times in
the near future as some of the
scenarios mentioned were not
explicitly under government’s
control due to global dynamics at
play, as a result, the effect of the
pandemic on the global economy.
With the global challenge
in supply chains, it would be
difficult to hold back the escalating
prices of medicines. Due to
supply chain challenges the cost
of molecular formulation on the
globe is on the rise.
Some pharmaceutical giants
have also been asked by the home
governments to feed them before
attending to foreign requests.
For example, it has been documented
that the price of paracetamol–a
common and cheap
drug for pain relief – has seen
about a 300 per cent increase in
12 months and there is no clear
indication of a halt in the rising
price.
On the measures put in place
by the government to fight the
spread of the novel coronavirus
(Covid-19) pandemic in the
country, Dr Dsane-Selby commended
President Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Minister
of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman
Manu, and Ghana Health Service
(GHS) for putting in place health
security measures to manage the
virus effectively in the country.
"I think looking at the whole
situation, Ghana has managed
the COVID-19 pandemic very
well and that the international
community has even acknowledged
the leadership of President
Akufo-Addo, Minister for Health,
Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu in that
regard.
Writer's email: koryekporfreeman@yahoo.com