The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr Nana Ayew Afriye, has called for an end to the politicisation of health care in Ghana, urging policymakers to prioritise the well-being of citizens over partisan agendas.

He made this call while critiquing the 2025 budget statement in Parliament on Wednesday, March 19, 2025; Dr. Afriye also praised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for its commitment to completing inherited projects while accusing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of abandoning them.

In his comments on the budget, Dr. Afriye expressed frustration with the proposed “Mahama Care Trust Fund,” a health initiative by the current John Dramani Mahama administration. He warned that attaching political names to such policies risks undermining their longevity and effectiveness.

“Those who come to me in the hospital don’t care about my political colour. Never did I ask my patients where they come from,” the MP, who is also a medical doctor, stated.

“Any staff who work with me, regardless of their political standing, don’t even care about it; just do your work and go,” he added.

Drawing a comparison to the United States, he cautioned that naming the fund “Mahama Care” could doom it to failure. “Mr. Speaker, if you are going to call a medical trust fund Mahama Care, Mr. Speaker, it is dead on arrival,” he said. “Take a cue from America—you had Obamacare, Trump came and tore it apart, and that was it. So, if you want a policy to stay, come clean on the policy,” he charged.

The MP for Effiduase/Asokore extended his critique of the proposed policy beyond its nomenclature. He described the Mahama Care Trust Fund as “a recipe for fraud,” raising concerns about its transparency and potential for mismanagement, as it duplicates existing structures in the health care system.

He argued that healthcare initiatives should be designed with accountability and sustainability in mind rather than serving as vehicles for political gain.

The MP also highlighted what he sees as a stark contrast between the governing NPP and the opposition NDC in handling national projects.

“The beauty of NPP’s thinking is finishing inherited projects, yet the NDC abandons them,” he remarked, pointing to the NPP’s track record of completing initiatives started by previous administrations as a model for effective governance.

The NPP has been critical of the contents of the 2025 Budget Statement, presented to Parliament by the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, on March 11, 2025. According to the opposition, the budget, among other shortfalls, fails to outline a source of funding for the completion of the Agenda 111 projects, a key infrastructure initiative of the previous government.



GA

Catch up on the mysterious and historic details of Fort Amsterdam in this final part of our Ghana Month Series on People and Places on GhanaWeb TV below: