Dr. Kweku Afriyie: Law Makers Are Deviating From Their Core Mandate

Dr. Kweku Afriyie, the former Minister of Health in the Kufour administration has reiterated his argument that the legislature is deviating from its core mandate of making laws by embarking on developmental projects. �I do not want to get into how much they are given but I have done my research and my findings prove that they are given monies across board to undertake developmental projects. If it is even one cedi they receive for this purpose, I regurgitate, it is wrong today and it would be wrong tomorrow,� he told Peacefmonline.com. With the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) on the verge of collapsing, its indebtedness to service providers and description of the Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) by a group aligned to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) as being a �failure and a liability� on government, stakeholders are �jaw-jawing� to find a suitable way out of the numerous problems facing the scheme. In one of such debates, Dr. Kweku Afriyie the sector Minister under whose watch the Scheme was rolled out, registered his discontent with the fact that Members of Parliament (MP) are given monies from the coffers of the NHIS to build structures and rehabilitate hospitals. According to him, �government budgets are divided into four items. One is personal emolument, item two is servicing, item three is management and item four is capital investment. The health insurance was introduced to bridge items two and three which deals the with investment and management aspects. Personal emolument (salary and pay for government workers), capital investment, which is the construction of buildings etc. and its repairs which is the duty of government�. This comment was made in allusion to the MP for Sunyani West, Hon Ignatius Baffuor Awuah�s reaction to, what he says, was the impression being created by Dr. Kweku Afriyie that the legislature is contributing to the bankruptcy of the NHIS by drawing an amount of GHc3600 each, every three months. Hon. Baffour Awuah was emphatic that no such amount is given to the law makers but they are given the opportunity to propose a health related project, which is drawn by the various District Health Directorates and only supported by the MPs. He revealed that, monies are then released from the NHIS funds but varies based on the proposal made. And that the monies do not come to the MPs but straight to the District Health Directorate. This, the former Health Minister believes is a breach of the law because the work of the MP is to lobby and not undertake developmental projects. He explained that; �that is not their mandate because the source of funding is even wrong. The government should go elsewhere (for funding for the MPs) especially in the light of the fact that they (the MPs) cannot even satisfy we, the health care providers. Dr. Kweku Afriyie revealed to Peacefmonline.com that the �law makers are violating the law by shifting the monies for items two and three to item four�.