New Patriotic Party (NPP)

  • Fact-checking claims from NDC’s press conference on the economy (Part One)

    Full Story 

    The National Democratic Congress (NDC) held a press conference on July 8, 2022, at its headquarters in Accra. The conference was to touch on Ghana’s current economic situation.

    The National Communication Officer of the party, Sammy Gyamfi, who addressed the press indicated that Ghana’s economy showed signs of serious challenges before the COVID-19 pandemic. According to him, the NPP government should desist from continuously blaming the current economic hardship in the country on the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian Ukraine war. 

    To make his arguments more evident, he made some comparisons between the economic performance of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and that of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

    The full statement of the press engagement has been published on myjoyonline.com. The press conference was streamed live on major television stations, including Woezor TV. 

    On Woezor TV it has garnered over 100 shares and received over 6,000 views with over 300 likes. DUBAWA decided to look into some of the comparisons to find out if they are true.

    Claim 1: Ghana’s debt had increased from GHC 120 billion in 2016 to GHC 225 billion before COVID (that is: in 2019) (42:51-43:04)

    False! The figures quoted by Sammy Gyamfi are inaccurate, as they differ from data from the Bank of Ghana and budget statements from the Finance Ministry.

    By: Jeffrey Nyabor 

    Verification

    In economics, the money a country owes to lenders is called the Public Debt. These are monies borrowed by the government to meet its developmental obligations.

    The Bank of Ghana and budgetary statements from the Finance Ministry are two sources where data can be acquired in analyzing Ghana’s public debt.

    According to the Bank of Ghana, the country’s total public debt, in 2016, was GHC 122,263.02 billion. The figure rose to GHC 218,228.94 billion in 2019.

    Source: Bank of Ghana 

    The figures from the Central Bank are not so different in documents from the Finance Ministry that were analyzed by Dubawa.

    Paragraph 125 of the 2017 budget reported that the country’s “public debt stock as of December 2016 was GHC 122,263.00 billion.” This figure was also repeated in paragraph 16 of the 2016 Annual Debt Management Report and paragraph 37 of the 2018 Annual Public Debt Report (APDR), both from the Finance Ministry. With regards to the Debt-to-GDP ratio, paragraph 38 of the 2018 APDR quoted 56.8%.

    Source: Page 28 of  Annual Public Debt Report for 2018 

    In the 2020 Mid-year budget review (paragraph 73), the total public debt for 2019 was quoted as GHC 217,990.7 billion. Paragraph 74 of that document reported that “the debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of December 2019 was 62.4%.” 

    Page 64 of the 2021 Annual Public Debt Report quoted GHC 218,228.9billion as the country’s Total Debt with Financial & Energy Sector Costs. That same report indicated that Ghana’s total debt-to-GDP ratio with Financial & Energy Sector Costs was 62.4% for 2019.

    Source: Page 64 of  Annual Public Debt Report for 2021 

    Evidently, the figures quoted by Sammy Gyamfi as Ghana’s nominal debt for 2016 and 2019 are not entirely backed by data from the Bank of Ghana and the Finance Ministry. In 2016 the public debt according to data from the Bank of Ghana as well as the Budget statements indicate that debt was GHS 122,263.00 and not 120 million, Also in 2019, the total public debt was 218,228.9 according to data from Annual Public Debt Report and not 225 billion as stated by Sammy Gyamfi.

    Claim 2: Our debt to GDP had increased from 56% as of 2016 to 64% in 2019 even before Covid-19. (42:51-43:04)

    Verdict: Mostly false. Even though data from three financial institutions including the Ministry of Finance, the International Monetary Fund, and CEIC cite the fact that the public debt to GDP was 56% in 2016, it did not cite 64% as the public debt to GDP in 2019. The data quotes 62.4%. 

    By: Kennedy Twumasi

    Verification

    The debt-to-GDP ratio is the metric comparing a country’s public debt to its gross domestic product (GDP). It basically means comparing what a country owes with what it produces. The Ghana Statistical Service defines Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth as the main indicator of economic performance.

    DUBAWA decided to look into data from three financial institutions. We looked at the Ministry of Finance, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and CEIC, an international macroeconomic resource data centre. 

    The Ministry of Finance cited 56.8% and 62.4% as the debt to GDP for 2016 and 2019 respectively. The IMF cited 55.9% and 62.7% while CEIC cited 56.9% and 62.4% as the debt to GDP for 2016 and 2019.

    However, it is also evident to note that even though the debt to GDP during the NPP government under the Akufo Addo administration had increased from about 55.7% in 2017 to 62.4% in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, there was also an increase from about 42.9% in 2013 to 55.6% in 2015 as cited on page 30 of the 2018 Annual Public Debt report

    Claim  3: Debt servicing which is the money we spend on interest on our debt and principal that becomes due has increased from 11 billion in 2016 to 37 billion in 2019. (43:04-43:22)

    Mostly false. Even though data from the Ministry of Finance confirms that the debt servicing for 2016 was 11 billion cedis, it did not increase to 37 billion cedis but 19 billion cedis in 2019. 

    By: Kennedy Twumasi

    Verification

    Debt servicing refers to the money that is required to cover the payment of interest and principal on a loan or other debt for a particular time period.

    As at the first quarter of 2022, Ghana’s debt stood at 391 billion cedis. So, how much did we pay as interest in servicing this debt in 2011 and 2019?

    To have a bird’s eye view of the claim, DUBAWA decided to look at data of interest payments from the Ministry of Finance budget statements and economic policies from the year 2012 to 2021. The interest payment sighted by DUBAWA from 2012 to 2022 is the summation of payments made from “domestic” and “external” financial transactions. 

    In 2012 Ghana’s debt service stood at GH₵ 2 billion (page 5), in 2013 it was GH₵3 billion (page 6),  2014 stood at GH₵7 billion (page 4), 2015 was also GH₵ 9 billion (page 4), 2016 was GH₵ 11 billion, 2017 was GH₵13 billion (page 54), 2018 was 15 billion (page 54) , 2019 was GH₵ 19 billion, (page 105),  2020 was GH₵ 21 billion (page 113)  while 2021 stood at GH₵ 32 billion (page 227), with the estimated debt service for 2022 at GH₵ 37 billion (page 231). 

    Clearly, from the data above, the 37 billion cedis quoted as debt service for 2019 is untrue. The 37 billion is the estimated debt service for 2022. However, the data reveals that the debt service of 11 billion cedis in 2016 increased to 19 billion in 2019. 

    Claim 4: Again, before Covid, the growth rate for the construction sector had declined from 8.4% in 2016 to -8.5% in 2019, and the growth rate of the manufacturing sector had declined from a growth rate of 7.9% in 2016 to 6.5% in 2019 under the much touted one district one factory. (45:13- 45:39)

    Mostly false. Even though the construction growth rate for 2016 was 8.4% according to the Ghana Statistical Service, the sector did not decline to -8.5%, but it declined to -4.4%. Also, even though the manufacturing sector grew by 7.9% in 2016 it declined to 6.3% in 2019, not 6.5%. 

    By: Kennedy Twumasi

    Verification

    DUBAWA looked into data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). The service is solely responsible for the collection and analysis of statistical data in Ghana. In its rebased 2013-2019 Annual Gross Domestic Product published in April 2020 (page 7),  it quotes 8.4% as the growth rate of the construction sector in 2016 but cited -4.4% not -8.5% as the decline in the growth of the sector. 

    Source: Ghana Statistical Service 

    Likewise, in the manufacturing sector, the service cited 7.9% as the growth rate in 2016 but 6.3% in 2019. This is contrary to the 6.5% Sammy Gyamfi claimed. 

    Source: Ghana Statistical Service 

    Claim 5: Tax Revenue for 2019 was 43.9 billion. In 2020, government projected tax revenue of GHC 47.2 billion, revised to 42.7 billion and exceeded its revised target by collecting a total of 45.3 billion. In 2021, the government projected tax revenue of GHC 57.055 billion, but recorded 57.32 billion. (45:45 to 46:56)

    False! The figures are inconsistent with data from the Bank of Ghana and the Finance Ministry.

    By: Jeffrey Nyabor

    Tax revenue is the income gained by the government through taxation.

    Ghana government’s tax revenue projections and outturn can be found in the budget statements from the Finance Ministry. The Bank of Ghana also provides data on money accrued by the government through taxes.

    In investigating the claim, we analyzed data from the two aforementioned institutions and we found the following:

    Concerning the tax revenue for 2019, data from the Finance Ministry (Page 107 of 2020 Mid-year budget) quotes GHC 42,774,600,946 as the provisional tax revenue outturn whilst the Bank of Ghana quotes GHC’m 42,774.60. 

    In the 2020 budget (Page 214), the government had projected to generate GHC 49,247,704,677 in taxes but later revised it to GHC 42,331,692,489 in the 2020 midyear budget document (Page 109). In the 2021 budget (Page 206), the provisional tax outturn was given as GHC 44,447,772,184. The Bank of Ghana, on the other hand, quoted GHC’m 44,452.26 as the government’s tax revenue for 2020.

    For 2021, the government projected to accrue GHC 55,834,841,211 in taxes (page 208 of 2021 budget) and projected GHC 55,303,282,454 as the outturn in the 2022 budget (Page 229). DUBAWA has not sighted any document from the Ministry that indicates the provisional tax revenue outturn for 2021. The Bank of Ghana has also not yet updated its portal with the 2021 tax revenue.

    Evidently, the tax revenue figures quoted by Sammy Gyamfi are inconsistent with data from the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance.

  • NDC’s Peter Otukonor’s figures on government’s revenue are inaccurate

    Claim: Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Peter Boamah Otokunor, claims that the Akufo-Addo-led government has so far accrued GHC 500 billion in revenue whereas the erstwhile John Mahama administration made GHC 200 billion.

    DUBAWA has analyzed data from the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana and have found the figures to be inaccurate.

    Full Text

    Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Peter Boamah Otokunor, has accused the ruling New Patriotic Party of having “nothing to show” despite accruing “a total GHC 500 billion in revenues.”

    He says that the NPP, under the leadership of President Nana Akufo-Addo has offered “very poor and incompetent leadership” to Ghanaians.

    Making comparisons, he said that the total revenue garnered by the government during the erstwhile John Mahama administration was a “meager GHC 200 billion.”

    Peter Boamah Otokunor made the claim when he was delivering a solidarity message on behalf of the National Democratic Congress at the National Delegates Conference of the NPP in Accra on Saturday, July, 16, 2022

    “The NPP government has been privileged to benefit from a total GHC 500 billion Ghana Cedis in revenues and about GHC 400 billion in borrowed inflows, compared to some meagre GHC 200 billion accrued to your predecessor, the Nation Builder, H.E John Dramani Mahama, yet you have nothing to show. Absolutely nothing,” he said at the Conference which was broadcast live across the country on several major media platforms.

    Subsequently, he shared a short clip that captured the claim on his Twitter page.

    The 2 minutes, 19 seconds video has since attracted 34.4K views.

    The former Presidential staffer also shared his full speech at the Conference on his Facebook page. The claim can be found in the sixth paragraph of the text.

    Verification

    Government revenue refers to the total amount of money that is generated from various sources, such as taxes, social contributions, grants receivable, and interest on investments made by the government.

    In investigating the claim, DUBAWA relied on economic data from the Bank of Ghana and budget statements from the Ministry of Finance from 2014 to 2022.

    According to figures from the Bank of Ghana between 2013 and 2016, which was the period within which John Mahama was President, the government had accrued a total of GHC 108,983.46 million.

    This is slightly different from the budget statements for the period of John Mahama’s administration.

    With the exception of 2016, documents sighted by DUBAWA only gave the government’s projected revenue for 2013, 2014, and 2015.

    Regardless, if these figures are summed, the government’s revenue from 2013 to 2016 was GHC 111,407.60 million.

    These figures are below the GHC 200 billion quoted by Peter Boamah Otokunor as the government’s accrued revenue during the tenure of John Mahama as President.

    Below is a breakdown of the government’s revenue based on data from the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning from 2013 to 2016.

    YearBank of Ghana (GHC’M)MOFEP (GHC’M)
    201319,471.5520,801.0 (projected outturn) – 2014 budget (Pg. 28)
    201424,745.4624,739.2 (projected outturn) – 2015 budget (Pg. 21)
    201531,088.2832,189.2 (projected outturn) – 2016 budget (Pg. 22) 
    201633,678.1733,678.2 (Provisional outturn) – 2017 Prov. budget, Pg. 19)
    Total108,983.46111,407.60

    Similarly, data from the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance do not back the claim that the current government, led by President Nana Akufo-Addo, has so far accrued GHC 500 billion in revenues. 

    Below is a breakdown of the government’s revenue based on data from the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning from 2017 to 2021.

    YearBoG (GHC’M)MOFEP (GHC)
    201740,277.7041,254,261,237 (Projected outlook – 2018 budget, Appendix 2A)
    201847,636.7346,807,862,869 (Projected outturn – 2019 budget, Appendix 2B)
    201953,379.6153,379,610,097 (Provisional outturn – 2020 budget, Appendix 2B)
    202055,132.2555,128,435,325 (Provisional outturn – 2020 budget, Appendix 2B)
    2021N/A70,347,458,170 (Project outturn – 2022 budget, Appendix 2B)
    Total196,426.29266,917,627,698

    Given the huge disparity between the figures provided by Peter Boamah Otokunor and data gathered by DUBAWA, an attempt was made to get the Deputy General Secretary to provide his source of data but to no avail. This report will be updated with his response when received.

    Conclusion

    On the basis of data from the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance, DUBAWA has found that the figures quoted by Peter Boamah Otokunor are inaccurate.

  • NPP Delegates Conference: Claim that party hopeful, Justin Kodua Frimpong, won NPP-USA internal polls false

    Claim: NPP General Secretary hopeful, Justin Koduah Frimpong, has defeated incumbent John Boadu in NPP-USA internal polls, according to an online news portal, mynewsgh.com

    DUBAWA has sighted the official results from the party’s USA branch office and has found the claim to be untrue.

    Full Text

    The National Patriotic Party has scheduled to elect new executive officers at its National Delegates Conference scheduled for July 16 and 17, 2022.

    46 candidates are contesting to hold ten different positions.

    Hours ahead of the start of the polls, DUBAWA sighted a news publication on www.mynewsgh.com, headlined, “NPP Elections: Justin Koduah wins massively in USA polls

    According to the publication, Justin Koduah Frimpong, who is running for the party’s General Secretary defeated the incumbent, John Boadu.

    “In the keenly contested polls, Justin Koduah garnered 70 of the votes cast on the day while his strongest opposition John Boadu garnered 44 votes,” mynewsgh.com reported.

    The publication included this image.

    A screenshot of the publication on www.mynewsgh.com

    Verification

    In investigating this claim, DUBAWA visited the website of the USA office New Patriotic Party and noticed that it had made a publication headlined “NPP-USA Selects Candidates to Vote for in National Executive Elections

    In that publication, which provided the official results from its internal polls, it was indicated that John Boadu was the candidate in the General Secretary race that had secured the votes of the NPP-USA delegates.

    According to the official results, John Boadu, in their internal election, had garnered 70 votes (53%) whereas his four contenders, including Justin Kodua Frimpong, shared 62 votes. 

    In the statement announcing the results, the NPP-USA branch explained that the internal poll, which is backed by convention, was to “determine who gets the delegates’ votes.”

    Source: NPP-USA Branch

    DUBAWA contacted the Director of Elections and Research at the NPP-USA branch, Bright Gyimah who confirmed to us that the publication on the party’s website was accurate.

    “Let me state emphatically that NPP-USA does not take sides in internal party elections. As part of the 2022 National Delegates Conference of NPP slated for Saturday, July 16th, 2022, in Accra and its elections to elect national executives to lead the party in the next four years, NPP‐ USA Branch, by convention, conducted its internal poll to determine who get their delegate votes…let me reiterate unequivocally that NPP‐USA does not take sides in internal party elections. However, members in good standing are given the opportunity to vote to select which executives they prefer to lead the party,” he said via email.

    Bright Gyimah further shared the results from its internal elections with us which we found to be the same as what had been published on the NPP-USA website.

    Screenshot of email correspondence with Bright Gyimah, NPP-USA Director of Elections. 

    Evidently, the claim that General Secretary hopeful, Justin Kodua, has won in NPP-USA internal polls is false.

    Conclusion

    According to the official results as available on the website of the NPP-USA branch, Justin Kodua Frimpong did not win in the internal poll, contrary to the publication by www.mynewsgh.com

  • False; Ghana is NOT the only sub-Saharan African country to record a positive GDP growth in 2020 as claimed by John Boadu

    Claim: Ghana is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to record a positive GDP growth in 2020, General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, John Boadu, has said.

    False, according to figures from the World Bank and IMF, several countries in sub-Saharan Africa recorded a positive economic growth rate in 2020.

    Full Text

    On Friday, November 19, 2021, the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, John Boadu, was a panelist on the Kokrokoo morning show on Accra-based Peace FM 104.3 FM.

    While on the show, Boadu made some arguments to encourage Ghanaians to accept the policies in the 2022 budget as presented by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

    Whilst touting the government’s efforts in building a resilient economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Boadu said that the economy of other countries did not perform as well as Ghana’s did.

    “The economies of other countries couldn’t perform as well as ours did. The whole sub-Saharan African countries, none of them was able to pose a positive growth, none,” he told host Kwame Sefa Kayi. 

    “Our 0.4% growth is better than a negative,” he continued.

    A video in which his claim was made has been uploaded on Youtube on the Despite Media channel. The video has since attracted 739 videos.

    The video has also been embedded in an online publication on www.peacefmonline.com while the show was live streamed on Facebook,  garnering 249 reactions, 112 comments and 8.7K views.

    Screenshot of the video uploaded on Youtube

    Verification

    Economic growth is defined as the increase in the market value of goods and services produced by an economy over time. It is usually measured as a percentage rate of increase in the real gross domestic product (GDP).

    The most comprehensive measure of overall economic performance is gross domestic product or GDP, which measures the “output” or total market value of goods and services produced in the domestic economy during a particular time period. 

    A country’s economy can experience negative growth when its GDP reduces year over year.

    In effect, when GDP goes up, the economy is generally said to be doing well.

    Covid-19 and the Global Economy

    The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic greatly affected the economic growth of many countries.

    The IMF estimated that the global economy will shrink by 4.4% in 2020.

    The only major economy to grow in 2020 was China. It registered a growth of 2.3%.

    Global trade is estimated to have fallen by 5.3% in 2020.

    A June 2020 paper published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development estimated that COVID-19 will drag African economies into a fall of about 1.4% in GDP, with smaller economies facing contraction of up to 7.8%. 

    According to the World Bank, economic growth in Western and Central Africa contracted by 1.1% in 2020. In East and Southern Africa, the growth contraction in 2020 is estimated at -3.

    The Sub-Saharan Region

    According to the United Nations Development Programme, there are 46 countries, including Ghana, in the sub-saharan region.

    To ascertain the truth or otherwise of the claim, Dubawa referred to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund figures for the 2020 GDP growth of all 46 countries.

    A total of 14 out of the 46 countries, had recorded a positive economic growth rate in 2020, according to data from the World Bank and the IMF.

    Figures from varied sources such as La Banque Centrale des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (BCEAO), African Development Bank (AfDB), and Statista corroborate this.

    CountryWorld BankIMFVaried sources
    Benin3.8%3.8%3.8% (BCEAO)
    Burkina Faso2.0%1.9%2.50% (BCEAO)
    Central African Republic0.0%1%0.4% (AFDB)
    Democratic Republic of Congo0.5%1.7%1.74% (Statista)
    Côte D’Ivoire1.8%2%1.80% (BCEAO)
    Ethiopia6.1%6.1%6.1% (AFDB)
    Ghana0.4%0.4%0.4% (Ghana Finance Ministry)
    Guinea7.0%7.1%5.2% (AFDB)
    Malawi0.8%0.9%1.7% (AFDB)
    Niger1.5%3.6%1.2% (BCEAO)
    Sao Tome and Principe3.1%3%3% (Statista)
    Senegal0.9%1.5%1.50 (BCEAO)
    Tanzania2.0%4.8%4.8% Deloitte Tanzania
    Togo1.8%1.8%1.80% (BCEAO)

    Data from the World Bank indicated that Burundi, Cameroon, The Gambia, and Uganda recorded a positive economic growth in 2020. However, data from the IMF and Statista said otherwise.

    CountryWorld BankIMFStatista
    Burundi0.3%-1%-1.04%
    Cameroon0.7%-1.5%-1.54% 
    Gambia0.0%-0.2%-0.2%
    Uganda2.9%-0.8%-0.84%

    The World Bank indicated that East Africa’s Comoros recorded a 4.9% economic growth in 2020; however, the country’s data of their GDP growth rate is not available on the IMF website.

    From the above, it is evident that Ghana was not the only country to have recorded positive growth in sub-saharan Africa in 2020.

    Conclusion

    Data from the World Bank and the IMF and other sources agree that 14 Sub-Saharan countries, including Ghana, had recorded a positive economic growth rate in 2020. 

    The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party’s claim that Ghana is the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa to record a positive growth rate is false.

    This report was produced under the Dubawa Student Fact-checking Project aimed at offering students in tertiary schools aspiring to take up roles in the profession the opportunity to acquire real-world experience through verification and fact-checking. 

  • Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme: It’s introduction and implementation process

    Claim: A Twitter User by name Mahama2024 says the National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS) was started by Late President Rawlings and the NDC

    The NHIS was introduced by the Late former President, Jerry John Rawlings

    Full Text

    The Ghanaian political system is faced with the ‘who started what’ syndrome where political parties play blame games and tease one another with achievements during their tenure. 

    One such accomplishment to come under the radar is the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

    On February 2, 2016, the National Women Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Anita De-Soso, stated that the ‘National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is not the brainchild of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). She said that the idea was conceived by the Catholic Church, and the late former President Jerry John Rawlings decided to pilot the concept in Dodowa and northern parts of Ghana.

    A year later, the current speaker of parliament and then Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli North constituency in the Upper West region, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, claimed during a discussion on Accra-based Class FM on June 8, 2017 that the NHIS was introduced by Late President Jerry John Rawlings. 

    Fast forward to 2021, what seemed to be a revelation some four years ago has been raised by Mahama2024, a Twitter user who also shares the same claim.

    This claim has been retweeted by several users. One other user had the caption:

    “Assuming power they tried stealing it for themselves by running it as a mutual (district-based) scheme instead of the ‘national’ as proposed and piloted by the NDC.

    The Mills/Mahama government reverted it to the ‘National Health insurance scheme’.

    Shameless elephants.”

    Verification

    What was the norm before the introduction of NHIS?

    According to a working paper titled Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme in the Context of the Health MDGs – An Empirical Evaluation Using Propensity Score Matching, Ghanaian citizens enjoyed free medical services after independence in 1957 but economic and health infrastructural challenges in the early 1980s led to the introduction of a ‘cash and carry’ system as part of conditions of the Structural Adjustment programme, also referred to as the user fee policy, the ‘cash and carry’ system meant that patients or clients had to make direct payment at health facilities when they accessed health care.

    Attempts were made during the period to introduce some form of health insurance to address some of the challenges of the ‘cash and carry’ system. For instance, according to research by Terence Darko in 1999, the government of Ghana, in partnership with the Ghana Health Care Company, piloted a tax-funded health insurance scheme with the aim of using revenue from taxes to pay for medical bills but not a single person was registered.

    Other health insurance schemes without state backing, however, operated successfully. This included NGO-initiated community-based health insurance schemes (CBHIS), implemented by different actors including the St Theresa’s Catholic Mission Hospital at Nkoranza, the bilateral donors DANIDA (the Danish International Development Agency), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), faith-based organisations, and other NGOs were said to be working successfully.

    When was the NHIS Act passed?

    The Parliament of Ghana passed the National Health Insurance Act in 2003 to outline plans for a healthcare system that would provide universal coverage to all Ghanaians and bring an end to the ‘cash and carry’ system.

    The scheme was passed into law during the John Kufuor administration to secure financial risk protection against the cost of healthcare services for all in Ghana.

    Currently, a new law, Act 852 has replaced Act  650 which was passed in 2003 to consolidate the NHIS, remove administrative bottlenecks, introduce transparency, reduce opportunities for corruption and gaming of the system, and make for more effective governance of the schemes.

    When was the scheme introduced?

    According to a research titled Kwame Nkrumah, vision and tragedy, the scheme, inaugurated in 2003, is the successor to the attempt by Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, to provide free universal healthcare [Until the enactment of the new NHIS Act, 2012 (Act 852) that established the NHIA, the scheme operated semi-autonomously district-wide (public) mutual health insurance schemes (DMHIS)]. 

    Which government implemented the scheme?

    According to a Capacity Development Consult (CDC) research findings, when the NPP government assumed power in 2001, they had no clear road map on the structure and funding of the health insurance policy in their election manifesto and therefore provided a broad range of healthcare services to Ghanaians through district mutual and private health insurance schemes. 

    A Ministerial Task Force, upon inauguration by the government in the first quarter of 2001, advised the Ministry of Health (MoH) on the development of a national health insurance scheme, and how the ministry will regulate and mobilize extra resources to support the scheme. 

    The Task Force later presented the draft policy to the government for further stakeholder consultations at both national and local government levels. After reviewing the concerns and proposals raised in various stakeholder consultation forums, the Task Force updated the zero draft.

    According to a research titled politics of accountability in Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme, conducted by Capacity Development Consult(CDC) in June 2016, the proposal proved contentious, as did other aspects of the basic structures of the scheme. Nonetheless, by the last quarter of 2003, the NHIS Act (Act 650) was passed into law. 

    Jennifer Singleton’s research paper titled Negotiating Change: An Analysis of the Origins of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Act indicates the NHIS implementation began in 2004 before the presidential and parliamentary elections that same year. 

    Another research work titled ‘The state of enrollment on the National Health Insurance Scheme in rural Ghana after eight years of implementation’ conducted by the International journal for equity in health on December 31 2019 states that, before the implementation process began, the Kuffour government piloted what they termed as the District and Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (DMHIS) across all Districts in the ten regions.  

    The second phase of implementation according to Terence Darko’s research findings states that the NDC upon winning the 2008 elections set up a legislative process by the NHIA that culminated in the review of Act 650, which was duly superseded by Act 852 in 2012.

    Another research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit reveals that the NHIS is also funded through individual annual premium payments; a value-added tax (VAT) levy contribution from those in the formal sector. 

    New additions onto the NHIS

    The National Health Insurance Scheme currently covers over 546 medicines from all district and regional hospitals across the country. The Authority has a total of 166 district offices & five registration centres. These centres report to the Membership and Regional Operations Directorate through the regional offices and are headed by managers. Registration of members and renewal of membership of the scheme is done at the district offices.

    The Authority has also introduced new Biometric Cards which contain basic biographic information as well as biometric data of the subscriber. The card is valid for five years subject to yearly membership renewals. The card is now more electronic than physical due to the biometric nature of the data which is embedded in the memory of the card.

    The benefits package includes outpatient and inpatient services and review, eye care, emergencies, oral health, and maternity care.

    With the introduction of digitization and technology, subscribers can renew their membership using shortcodes on all telecommunication networks.

    Conclusion

    By the findings above, Dubawa concluded that the NHIS was introduced by late President Jerry John Rawlings of the NDC, but implemented by the NPP government led by former President John Agyekum Kuffour.

  • Pokuase Interchange: Settling the Akufo-Addo, John Mahama Legacy Confusion

    Like several infrastructure projects in Ghana, there is always the “we did it” fight among the two major political parties in Ghana, the National Democratic Congress (NDC)  and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The new Pokuase interchange yet to be launched somewhere at the end of July has not been left out of this “claim game”.

    While members of the NDC insist that the project is part of former President John Dramani Mahama’s legacies, their counterparts in the NPP have also claimed it to be that of President Akufo-Addo’s. As a result of this, members of the two factions have been sharing different facts regarding the project on various media platforms.

    The Pokuase interchange is Ghana’s first four-tier interchange.  Ever since the project took shape, there have been several claims on when it started, whose project it is, the amount of money involved and others.  To help settle the debate and put some clarity on issues raised, Dubawa Ghana in this report presents the facts surrounding the project.

    How Did it All Begin?

    The Government of Ghana signed  a loan agreement with the African Development Bank on the 17th of November, 2016, to provide 83 million US Dollars  for the construction of the Pokuase interchange. The total cost of the project was supposed to be 94 million US Dollars. The Government of Ghana was to provide 11 million dollars to supplement the loan.

    The Pokuase Interchange was initially planned as a three-tier interchange under the John Dramani Mahama administration. The project comprised the construction of a five-kilometre Awoshie-Pokuase road, a three-tier interchange at Pokuase ACP Junction, a two-kilometre Accra-Nsawam Highway, a two-kilometre Kwabenya road and a 10-kilometre local roads.

    The interchange was scheduled to commence  in the first quarter of the next year, that is, between January and March 2017. It was scheduled to be completed after 36 months. However, construction did not start until July 2018, more than a year after the Akufo-Addo led administration took over in 2017.

    The project is being undertaken by Messrs China Zhongmei Engineering Company Limited and forms part of the Accra Urban Transport Projects.  The objective of the project is to  promote sustainable economic growth, enhanced inclusive urban development and reduced poverty as well as promote affordable transport services.

    Artistic impression of the initial three -tier interchange.

    Redesigning into a 4-Tier Interchange

    Almost a year after work began on the project, it was converted into a 4-tier interchange. According to a news report by the Ghanaian Times the contractor proposed to construct a 4-tier Stack Interchange after undertaking a value engineering assessment which was approved by the Ministry for Roads and Highways. 

    The cost for the project was not affected by the new design. Additionally, the new design is to help improve the efficiency of the project and allow the free flow of vehicles.

    On Wednesday, 25th of November, 2020, President Akufo-Addo Commissioned the first phase of the project.

    Conclusion

    Per facts above, the planning of the Pokuase interchange began in 2016. In fact, according to the data portal of the African Development Bank Group, the appraisal of the project was done in 2016. This indicates that preparations for construction of the interchange including the signing of the loan had been made during John Mahama administration. The execution of the project started under the Akufo-Addo administration. Although with the same loan agreement, the NPP government negotiated and changed the plan of the project from a 3-tier to a 4-tier interchange.

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