The Minority in Parliament has dismissed claims by the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, that the previous government is to blame for the high number of unpaid nurses and midwives across the country.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, October 13, 2025, the Health Minister accused the previous administration of posting graduate nurses without obtaining financial clearance, creating a financial burden for the current government.
According to him, the current administration is working to correct what he described as “the inherited wrongs” within the health sector.
“In January 2025, when we took office, we inherited a situation where about 13,500 nurses and midwives had been recruited and posted without financial clearance and without any provision to pay them,” the Minister said.
“In fact, the financial clearance for the 13,500 nurses and midwives expired on December 31, 2024. Once a financial clearance is issued, you must migrate the health professionals onto the payroll before it expires
However, in response to the Minister’s remarks, Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, accused the government of misleading the public and failing to pay some nurses for up to ten months.
Addressing journalists in Parliament on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, Dr. Afriyie stated that the previous government had secured financial clearance for 15,300 nurses and midwives in 2024, out of which 8,000 were successfully employed before the transition of power.
He argued that the current government, for political reasons, chose not to extend the financial clearance for the remaining nurses, despite funds being allocated.
“This financial clearance, issued on July 17, 2024, took immediate effect. Those recruited by the Ministry of Health received five months’ salary. The same should have applied to those under the Ghana Health Service,” Dr. Afriyie said.
He further questioned why the government neither instructed the institutions to reject the recruited nurses nor made provisions to pay them for work already done.
“They filled critical gaps in the system. Yet, ten months later, government allowed the situation to escalate to public embarrassment and demonstrations,” he added.
Dr. Afriyie accused the Health Minister of “throwing dust in the eyes of the people”, insisting that the previous government had made adequate budgetary provisions to cover the nurses’ salaries.
“The government created this mess and is now pretending to fix it. There’s no need for new Cabinet approval — the money was allocated, and the financial clearance only expired. They should pay the nurses now,” he concluded.
More than 6,500 newly recruited nurses and midwives have expressed deep disappointment in the Ministries of Finance and Health for failing to pay their salaries over the past 10 months.
On October 2, the aggrieved health workers staged a demonstration in Accra and presented a petition to both ministries, demanding a clear and definitive timeline for the payment of their salary arrears.
The protesters, numbering over a hundred on the streets, chanted songs and carried placards to draw attention to what they described as neglect by the state despite their essential role in the country’s healthcare system.
