GRNMA, CCNM Members Angry Over Unreasonable Dues And Levies

Mr. Kweku Asante Krobea

There is raging anger among the rank and file of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) and the Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives (CCNM) in the Northern Region and beyond.

This follows the decision by leadership of GRNMA to impose on their members what many described as unreasonable levies and dues at a recent national conference.

Various social media platforms particularly facebook has been buzzing since the end of the conference with dissenting views and comments over the obviously unpopular decision by the GRNMA leadership.

At its 16^th Biennial National Delegates Conference held between 21^st and 24^th of November 2017 at Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana, leadership of the over thirty thousand membership professional body according to some aggrieved nurses, approved some obnoxious increment of their monthly dues.

The dues and levies, which have been in place for some years now, have been described by many nurses as a source of income to the leadership of the association, who are using it to enrich themselves.

A report sighted by Savannahnews showed for instance, monthly dues being increased from 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent of basic salary representing 25 percent increment, building levy increased from GH₵10.00 to GH₵20.00 representing 100 percent increment and nurses fund increased from GH₵20.00 to GH₵50.00 representing 150 percent increment.

Each region presented 10 delegates at the conference. All delegates from the Northern Region voted against the increment whereas those from the Upper West Region boycotted it. Of the 10 delegates from the Upper East Region, 5 voted for and 5 voted against. 2 delegates from the Volta Region voted for the increment whereas the remaining 8 voted against.

All delegates from the Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Greater Accra Regions voted for the increment whereas only 1 out of the 10 delegates from the Central Region voted against the increment. 6 out of the 10 delegates from the Ashanti Region voted for the increment whereas 4 voted against and 8 out of the 10 delegates from the Western Region voted for the increment whereas 2 voted against.

Secretary to the Tamale Metro Chapter of the GRNMA, Aloysius Ali Angliengmene, in a facebook posted said: “How can you go and sit in a conference and decide for me how much I should contribute to a fund that is mine. I’m I a robot that I can’t decide what is good for me? It’s annoying. When I hear people who should know better, knock their chest and openly say without fear of contradiction that they supported that idea because that fund is well managed than SSNIT, it’s shameful.

“Do I have my own priorities? Do you know how many funds I’m managing? Funds are not compulsory. If not because of dubious things, why should an association make a fund compulsory and as if that is not enough, you want to decide how much I pay? Is it that fund that will make me rich? As a health tutor, you forgot about me during negotiation for conditions of service but quickly remembers me for deductions” he said.

Deputy Upper West Regional Secretary of the GRNMA, Evans Ibn Samba, also wrote on his facebook page: “Many may be wondering why no comment has come from me as regards the Cape Coast conference. I am simply yet to come out of the Shock! If you were at that conference, you would clearly appreciate the fact that THERE WAS NO VOTING there to decide anything! The figures being circulated out there were figures cooked from Accra and brought to Cape Coast.

“The conference was characterized by THREATS, INTIMIDATIONS, SUFFOCATIONS, ETC. Indeed, it was the worst form of autocracy ever witnesses anywhere in the world. The ordinary nurse/midwife had no voice in this conference. You needed to have a very thick skull to be able to VOTE NO in that conference. As for the decision to boycott, what it meant was that, you simply needed to be ready for “THE WORST” in even thinking about such a move.

“All in all, do we need to blame the President who also says he is an evangelist? In my view, NOT ENTIRELY! We saw the inconsistencies regarding the decision to take a loan on behalf of the association for example: The General Secretary was unware of it (perhaps, so as other executives –THE SILENCE OF THIS LOAN ISSUE IN THE TREASURER’S REPORT WAS SIMPLY SO LOUD, giving rise to numerous questions, but was there an opportunity to seek clarity, NOT AT ALL!

“What is the motivation to take a loan on behalf of the association when you have barely two years to exit? Where is the sense in going for a loan when you had already mobilized people to conference to vote to increase building levy deductions inter alia? It is clear that somebody somewhere may have a personal agenda in all of these, but time will tell”, he stated.

A press release issued by the Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives (CCNM) and signed by its National President Justice Badam Parmaak on November 26, urged the GRNMA to suspend the implementation of the new increments in dues and building levy or risk mass resignation of members.

The release described the action of the GRNMA executives as an attempt to impoverish the ordinary nurse or midwife who is already struggling to pay his/her fees to further his/her education. “A simple survey on facebook by Nursing in Ghana has showed 96% of nurses and midwives kicking against the decision. This clearly shows that the decision of this increment is misplaced to nurses and midwives”, it said.

“The action of the GRNMA is not only barbaric, inhumane, insensitive to the plight of the suffering nurse and midwife but a reflection of how distant they are away from our suffering. They have by their actions and inactions demonstrated their lost of touch with reality as far as nursing and midwifery is concern”, the Upper East Regional Chapter of CCNM also in another press release signed by its Regional Coordinator Thomas Kwame Nfi has said.

But in an interview with TV3 to respond to the issues being raised by CCNM and other members of the GRNMA, the President of the GRNMA Kweku Asante Krobea expressed bewilderment and maintained that consultations were done before the increments were effected.

“We did consultation and these increments they talked about did not come about by the decision of the President or executives. It is the delegates conference that voted on these increases” Mr. Krobea claimed.

“We believe in freedom of association so if they are deciding to break away, so let it be. We will move on with the discerning members of the association who believe in prudent management of funds and visionary leadership”, he dared.

Meanwhile, whereas the CCNM is encouraging members of GRNMA to breakaway and join them to form a strong nurses and midwives group, others like Mr. Samba rather thinks otherwise.

“If you are nurse or midwife, it is indeed very cruel and sad times for us, but from what I saw in Cape Coast, there is some light at the end of the tunnel….Breaking away or threats of it is surely not the way to go! If your region voted in favour of these percentage increments, ASK YOUR REGIONAL CHAIRMAN AND SECRETARY. Don’t break away!

”You cannot leave in isolation dear! Let us be part of the change. You will deny yourself the element of accountability if you GO AWAY or even threaten to do so”, he advised.

Meanwhile a petition initiated by David Sam two days ago on change.org to collect 1,500 signatures in support of his call on the National Executive Council of the GRNMA to suspend their decision to increase the building levy and dues has so far gathered 1,210 signatures.

The petition would be delivered to the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, Enrolled Nurses Group of Ghana, Community Health Nurses Association of Ghana and the General Nurses Group Ghana when the target of 1,500 signatures is met.

Ghana’s Mental Health Law Facing Implementation Delays

Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Health Minister

Ghana’s mental health sector could be in serious jeopardy in a few years’ time owing to delays in the full implementation of measures spelt out by the country’s mental health law.

Five years after the passage of the country’s mental law, many key aspects of the legislation have still not been achieved according to Knowledge and Communications officer of BasicNeeds-Ghana, Frederick Nantogmah.

Speaking to Citi News in an interview during a sensitisation workshop organised for 50 traditional and spiritual healers in Tamale, Mr Nantogmah said apart from the establishment of the Mental Health Authority and the Mental Health Fund which is yet to receive a single payment since creation, the rest of the other equally important aspects of the law have still not been implemented.

He also mentioned for instance, the absence of the Mental Health Board, Visiting Committee, Legislative Instrument and Mental Health Tribunals as well as lack of specialist care in all ten regions and medications for all public mental health facilities in the country.

Mr. Nantogmah however indicated that, in the absence of the full implementation of Act 846 of 2012, other development partners such as DFID, KOICA, Direct Relief and among others have been giving government and its mental health facilities some form of assistance.

“Through funding agencies like DFID a lot has really been done. So right now, the mental health authority has regional coordinators in all the places in all the regions and these guys are helping out with managing mental health services across board.

“We have also had the collaboration of other organisations like Direct Relief from the US who have given us a lot of medicines to be able to distribute to five of the poorest regions in Ghana. These have been the mainstay of psychotropic medicines that have been used in a lot of these places to the extent that now people with mental illness do not have to pay for medications a lot of the time”, he disclosed.

Through the intervention of the Korea International Cooperation Agency and Johnson and Johnson, Mr. Nantogmah also noted that BasicNeeds undertook a number of sustainable livelihood projects which ensured that persons with mental illness or epilepsy were engaged in agriculture and other income generating activities to be able to fend for themselves. 

The workshop was organised as part of the implementation of a 5-year (2013 – 2018) DFID mental health and development project being implemented in all 26 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Northern Region.

The project is aimed at supporting the government of Ghana to build a national mental health system that effectively and efficiently responds to the mental health needs of Ghanaians. This will reduce the wide mental health treatment gap currently existing in Ghana and enable adults and children of both sexes with neuropsychiatric conditions to live and work successfully in their communities. 

The project seeks to increase capacity of Ghana's Mental Health Authority to effectively and efficiently run community based mental health services; and support 100,000 adults and children of both sexes with mental health needs to access quality mental health services within the proximity of their communities.

Considering the vital role that traditional and faith-based healers play in the mental health sector, it has become imperative to sensitise them on the mental health law and its requirements as well as encourage practitioners to complement the services provided by orthodox mental health service providers.

According to Sheik Alhaji Yakubu Abdul-Kareem commended participants for the important role they were playing and urged them to respect the human rights of their patients citing the protection of their dignity and cease chaining them as well as bathing them with hot herbs.

Deputy Chief Investigator at the Regional Office of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Seidu Alhassan, urged participants to play a crucial role in complementing the efforts of the public health delivery system in the country.

He said the important contribution traditional healers could make include but not limited lending themselves to building their capacities in human right values and charters and work towards bringing their standards and procedures to be in sync with the provisions in the mental health act.

Mr. Alhassan also encouraged them to expose practitioners who were perpetrating bad behaviours and open up for better practices, improve their facilities and services and be humble enough to refer cases with the chance of better treatment to psychiatric hospitals for treatment.