General News of Monday, 10 August 2015

Source: peacefmonline

Mahama owes striking doctors no apology - Kwakye-Ofosu

Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Deputy Communications Minister Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Deputy Communications Minister

Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Deputy Communications Minister, says President John Dramani Mahama will not apologize to the striking doctors over his refusal to concede to their demands.

Speaking on Radio Gold's "Alhaji & Alhaji," Felix Kwakye Ofosu was of a strong view that President John Mahama's comments regarding the striking doctors' conditions of service were in the interest of the nation.

According to him, the President cannot meet the demands of the doctors because the government wants to reserve resources to finance education, road and transportation sectors as well as the health sector among others.

“What the President has done makes it possible for government to reserve resources to finance education, to finance even health, to finance road construction…to ensure water provision, to ensure that our transportation system is fixed…that is what the President said in those few lines that he rendered at the event that he attend. And how anybody can say that this constitutes doctors, or this offends the sensibilities of doctors for which reason the President must apologize beats my imagination.”

To him, President Mahama does not owe the doctors nor the country any apology because "it is completely illogical and must be dismissed with alacrity; those calls on the President to apologize for those comments. In what way does this comment offend anybody?”

He also cautioned the medical doctors not to dare intensify their strike action but rather amicably resume work.

“They cannot intensify that strike simply because the President has stated a position of his government. Absolutely, the roadmap was clear. The roadmap did not include statements that they found offensive so let them not shift the goal post and let not people operating in the political space offer justification for this kind of opposition,” he stressed.