Mr. Franklin Cudjoe
President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has blamed politicians for using Nursing and Teacher training incentives for votes.
According to Mr. Cudjoe, successive governments have pampered trainee nurses for political gain rather than investing in structural improvements and long-term workforce development.
Speaking in the aftermath of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association’s (GRNMA) nationwide strike on Channel One TV, Cudjoe accuses both the NDC and NPP of engaging in vote-buying through these allowances, rather than prioritizing qualified professionals.
“How have we treated nurses even when they are training—we’ve pampered them. Haven’t we?” Cudjoe asked, referencing past political decisions to reinstate or cancel trainee allowances. “Politically, one party says—John Mahama—that he is not going to pay any nurses allowance. The opposition at the time used it against him. And when they came, they started paying and rewarding these entities. I have never understood that game.”
Mr. Cudjoe lamented the use of training allowances as political bait, warning that such short-term populist policies divert funds that could be better used to properly equip and reward fully qualified professionals.
“The moment we do these shifty politics and think we can garner votes through these freebies to a section of the population that do not require it, that do not need it, we should not be crying now that they have come back biting at us,” he said.