We’ll serve all, irrespective of party affiliation; Two ministers designate tell Appointments C’ttee
The Minister designate for Health, Mr Alexander Percival Segbefia, has stated that it is never his intention to create ethnocentric feelings among Ghanaians.
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He said he would rather serve as a minister for every Ghanaian.
He made the promise when he appeared before the Parliamentary Appointments Committee in Accra yesterday.
Answering questions on a report by an FM station on a statement he made during a festival in the Volta Region, which had sought to imply that he would serve the people in that region, since he is an indigene, Mr Segbefia explained that he made the statement extempore and that the reporter might have taken the statement out of context.
He withdrew the statement attributed to him and promised to work for all Ghanaians in accordance with the Constitution.
Clarifying his birth certificate which generated controversy due to some spelling mistake in his name when he appeared before the committee as deputy minister of Defence last year, he said he had rectified the anomaly at the Births and Deaths Registry and called on the committee to seek the necessary clarification with that agency.
He said he would engage all stakeholders responsible for the management of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHS) to address the challenges facing it.
Cholera outbreaks
The minister designate said he would collaborate with other ministries, namely Education and Local Government and Rural Development, to prevent cholera outbreaks.
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He said although sanitation was mainly the responsibility of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, there was the need for collaboration to deal with the insanitary conditions that caused cholera.
He said during the outbreak of the dreadful Ebola disease in the subregion, a vigorous campaign was embarked upon to educate people on the mode of spread and added that a similar move would be initiated under his leadership with regard to cholera.
Mr Segbefia said state property would be protected under his watch and indicated for example that the fire that occurred at the Central Medical Stores would not occur if given the nod.
He touched on medical negligence in public hospitals and how he would address it and outlined his plans to resource existing hospitals such as the Tema General Hospital.
Asked if he thought the one-time health insurance premium promised by the NDC was feasible, he replied in the negative.
He said a committee established by the NDC government in 2009 concluded that it would be detrimental to implement such a policy at this time and, therefore, the government had abandoned it.
Anarfi-Mensah
The Minister-designate for the Ashanti Region, Mr Peter Anarfi-Mensah, told the committee that he would be "father for all" in the region in spite of the fact that it was the stronghold of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He said he believed in teamwork and would collaborate with people of all shades and opinions to develop the region.
Mr Anarfi-Mensah said he would address the problem of district and municipal chief executives sabotaging members of Parliament in the area of development, adding that he would start with the Sekyedumase District where the DCE is at loggerheads with the MP for the area.
Asked if he was aware of special levies charged by authorities at the Suntreso Hospital in Kumasi which was used to purchase fuel to power the generators at the health institution, he replied in the negative.
He promised to investigate the matter if given the nod to determine if the levies were justified or should be scrapped.
On the charging of illegal fees by some heads of second cycle schools, Mr Anarfi-Mensah, who is currently the headmaster of Tepa Senior High School, said there were channels through which heads of schools needed to go before charging extra fees.
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Any headmaster who did not go through the process, he said, was liable to sanctions, adding that if he was approved he would not hesitate to recommend that such heads of institutions were brought to book.
He said he would improve education in the region by monitoring and evaluating the work of all involved in education and help to address problems that would come up.