Thursday, 12th June, 2025
Hon Nana Ayew Afriye
Effiduase/Asokore
Yes, Mr Speaker. I rise to make this joint Statement on the Floor to be read by me is made on behalf of myself and Jerry Ahmed Shaib on the Registered Nurses and Midwifery Associations (GRNMA) industrial strike action.
Mr Speaker, we rise to make this Statement on an issue of immediate and far-reaching concern to our country. The ongoing nationwide strike action declared by the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwifery Association, which has severely disrupted the provision of health care services, imposing a growing public health emergency in the country.
Mr Speaker, on Monday, the 2nd June, 2025, members of the GRNMA officially began withdrawing their services across the country. This industrial action, which initially commenced with a phased reduction in services, has now escalated into a fullblown nationwide strike involving over 128,000 nurses and midwives in public services. It follows a series of field engagements between the leadership of GRNMA and key government stakeholders, particularly the Ministry of Finance, Fair Wages and Salaries Commission. According to the Association, the strike was necessitated by the government's failure to implement key provisions of the 2024 Collective Agreement, which was expected to address long-standing concerns related to salaries, allowances, working conditions and other benefits for its members. The GRNMA has cited repeated delays, broken promises and general failure to act in good faith as critical breaches of trust that violated both the spirit and the letter of the Labour Act.
Mr Speaker, the situation has since moved swiftly through legal and administrative channels. On June 4th, the National Labour Commission declared the strike illegal under sections 159 of the Labour Act and filed for an interlocutory injunction. The High Court, acting on the Commission’s request, issued a directive restraining the GRNMA from continuing with industrial action. The Court also mandated a compulsory arbitration process to resume negotiations and resolve the dispute within a specified timeline. Yet, as of today, the GRNMA maintains that it has not been formally served with a court order and thus continues with host services. The legal technicality, whether valid or not, has left many of our public health institutions under intense strain with potentially life-threatening consequences for Ghanaians.
Mr Speaker, the effects of the strike have been deeply felt across the country at leading referral hospitals like Korle Bu, Komfo Anokye, Tamale Teaching Hospitals and Accra Ridge Hospital. Patients have been stranded in Emergency Units; Outpatient Departments have been shut down and doctors have been overwhelmed by unmanageable caseloads. Some facilities have had to scale down operations significantly and, in some districts, health centres have completely shut their doors to the public. Vulnerable patients, including pregnant women, children and the elderly, have been left without care. Even more worrying, Mr Speaker, are reports of tension and near confrontations between striking junior nurses and senior colleagues who have attempted to offer critical services. At Korle Bu for instance, management had to intervene when a dispute arose in the emergency ward. This level of breakdown in order within our health care institutions cannot be allowed to fester.
Mr Speaker, the GRNMA may continue to insist that it is simply defending the dignity and rights of its members. The strike has ignited controversy within the nursing profession itself. Four major professional bodies, namely the Union of Professional Nurses and Midwives, the Ghana Registered Midwives Association, the Professional Association of Psychiatry Nurses, and the National Association of Registered Midwives have disassociated themselves from the strike.
They argue that the action is premature and unilateral, and have called on their members to remain at post while negotiations continue. This fracture within the professional community further complicates the situation, creating confusion on the ground and weakening the unity needed to advance a coordinated and sustainable solution. Nonetheless, the concerns raised by the GRNMA cannot and must not be dismissed. They reflect a broader pattern of systemic neglect and delayed commitment to the welfare of essential public sector workers, particularly in the health sector.
Mr Speaker, we must acknowledge the hard truth. This is not the first time nurses and midwives have resorted to industrial actions, and unless structural reforms are undertaken, it will not be the last. The repeated failure to fulfill signed agreements, the protracted delays in salary adjustments, and the lack of transparency in negotiations are breeding mistrust and demoralising across our health sector. Nurses and midwives are frontline caregivers who sustain our primary and emergency care and deserve better and urgent attention by all state institutions.
Mr Speaker, we cannot call them heroes during pandemics and crisis times only to abandon their welfare in times of calm. We must institutionalise a framework that ensures a timely and transparent implementation of collective agreements with predictable arbitration mechanisms that prevent the escalation of grievances into national crisis.
Mr Speaker, we wish to commend the Ministry of Health for initiating an emergency meeting with the GRNMA and other stakeholders on 9th June, 2025, aimed at resolving the impasse. However, the failure of the Ministry of Finance to approve and implement the collective bargaining agreement is what is protracting the standoff between Government and the GRNMA. The assertive position of the Minister of Finance is what can best be described as a cause of death associated with the GRNMA. Mr Speaker, inasmuch as the Minority Caucus respects the rights of our nurses and sympathises with them in pursuit of their rights, we are pleading with them to be merciful to the plight of Ghanaians and return to work as they look forward for government to engage them positively.
Mr Speaker, to add, today, your nonpartisan Committee, after a good discussion, have been able to make a peaceful way and we hope there will be good news by close of day because of our cooperative stance. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to share this with Members and the people of this country, a Statement written jointly by Jerry Ahmed Shaib and me.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Mark Kurt Nawaane
Nabdam
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker for the opportunity.
First and foremost, I want to thank the whole House for being able to postpone this Statement till today. This is because we held a meeting today, and I do not know whether the comments could have derailed today's discussions if this Statement had come earlier. So, I want to thank the House for that. Having said that Mr Speaker, it is true that when we talk about the health sovereignty, the health resilience and the quality of health in this country, a lot of it depends on the nurses.
So, they are people who we hold in high esteem. Indeed, when we go to the hospitals, I will say that they are the people who can work in any department of the hospital. So, we thank them very much for the good work that they are doing for the country. We hope that as the economy improves, the conditions of the nurses would also go along with that. Having said that, I want to inform the House that today we had a four-hour fruitful discussion with the nurses.
There was an understanding and as we speak, we are waiting for their response. So, I will beg Members to be very measured in terms of contributions and comments, such that as we wait for their answer, after our discussions and consultations, we will not do anything that will probably mar this meeting we had.
Thank you, Hon Speaker for the opportunity.
Hon Samuel Awuku
Akuapim North
Mr Speaker, I would like to commend the Committee for a good job done.
Mr Speaker, in the last few days, we have witnessed the suffering of our people across the health centres, and I believe today's Committee meeting will hopefully bring to an end the sufferings of our people. But it also serves as a very stark reminder of the gamut of issues affecting the health sector. I strongly believe that instead of political apparatchiks and propagandists subjecting these nurses to abuse, insult and unfair and foul language, I think that the Health Ministry must also take steps to ensure that the issues raised by these nurses and those in the health sector are also not repeated.
Mr Speaker, no one can anticipate a time of disaster, just like a fish caught in a cruel net or a bird caught in a wicked trap. We can be struck by illness on any day, and I want to believe that if there is one sector that we must also take seriously, it is the health sector. I want to commend the Committee's effort, but I also believe that the Minister for Health and the Ministry too must adopt measures that will be more embracing, and communicate better to our folks in the health sector.
On this note, let me commend Dr Ayew, Hon Ahmed, the team and the Committee that also sat today together with our professionals from the health sector to bring this standoff to a close.
Thank you very much.
Hon Charles Bawaduah
Bongo
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I wish to comment on the Statement made by the Hon Member of Parliament.
Mr Speaker, indeed, the current strike by the nurses is a matter of serious concern, and I want to commend Government for taking steps and negotiating with the nurses to ensure that a peaceful resolution is reached, and the matter is resolved for health services to continue.
But, Mr Speaker, I want to ask what has happened to our laws? This Parliament, in 2003, promulgated the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651). In this Act are elaborate procedures that provide for a resolution of a matter such as the one bedevilling us now. I want to urge the National Labour Commission (NLC) to, as it were, deploy the mechanisms provided in the Act and the subsequent subsidiary legislations to bring this matter to an end.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for this opportunity.
Hon Nurideen Muhammed Mumuni
Nalerigu/Gambaga
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for this opportunity. I, first of all, want to use the opportunity to commend my senior Hon Member for making this Statement at the right time.
But, Mr Speaker, we will have to look at our health sector critically. There is too much politics in it, and we need to take our time as a country— Looking at the day this strike started till today, a lot of people have lost their lives. That is unacceptable by the leaders who are supposed to take actions for these deaths to be prevented.
Mr Speaker, looking at what these nurses are demanding, I think, as a country, we need to pay attention to these nurses. If the nurses are demanding rural incentive allowance, it is an important allowance that we need to give to them. This is because this will help nurses who are working in rural areas—Mr Speaker, this incentive will help nurses to accept postings to rural areas to provide health services to our people.
Mr Speaker, looking at other African countries, they give these allowances to nurses. Mr Speaker, again, some party communicators and party journalists are fuelling these strikes because if issues of this nature come to the table of the Minister for Health, and the Minister for Health and labour experts are taking their time to solve this problem, one will see party journalists and party communicators insulting these nurses. Imagine a journalist saying that some of these diploma nurses have not passed their Senior High School Certificate Examination, but they are nurses.
How do we expect these nurses to agree to what the Minister for Health and the labour experts are saying to call off the strike? So, we have to look at this issue critically and make sure that whenever an issue of this nature comes to the table, we take off the party journalists and apparatchiks and leave the issue to the experts to deal with and find amicable solutions, so that our nurses will go back and take care of people in the hospital.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for this opportunity.
Hon Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin
Effutu
Mr Speaker, first, let me commend our Colleague, Dr Ayew Afriye, for bringing to this Floor this important matter.
Mr Speaker, in the comments that followed after his Statement, one statement I found very profound came from our Colleague, Hon Samuel Awuku. He has drawn our attention to the way some people have made this strike action a partisan matter. He has drawn our attention to the rather unfortunate and unmeasured foul language that has come from all those who are in disagreement with this action by the nurses.
Mr Speaker, we must not encourage such unguarded utterances, especially when there are certain demands from public sector workers who provide essential services, such as teachers, nurses, et cetera. The maker of the Statement shared with us his views about how we commended these nurses during COVID-19, and, in a period like this, the least we can do is to empathise with them.
Mr Speaker, if a person has not lived in a rural setting before, he or she will not understand or value the work of a nurse. Ghana is largely rural, not urban. If we live in the cities of Accra, Kumasi, Tamale, Takoradi or Cape Coast and we think that is Ghana, then we will be deceiving ourselves. A chunk of our population finds themselves in the rural areas and they need these nurses the most. So, when we reduce the matter to partisan politics, it is our own relatives and family members we are hurting, and by the way, the bill will come to us because when there is any death, they will come to us, the political leaders in Accra and demand some support.
So this is not about NDC or NPP politics at all; this is about leadership taking responsibility. It is the reason I commend the Committee on Health for their bipartisan approach in handling this matter. Mr Speaker, yesterday I did my part, engaged my Ranking Member and I asked him to call a meeting of our Side when it came to our attention that the Chairperson of the Committee on Health had called a meeting. I told them that they should fully cooperate, attend the meeting, and ensure that this impasse is brought to an end.
I am told that the Leader of the House himself sat through the meeting, and there was a fruitful engagement. I do not want to engage in blame game here — do not blame the Ministry of Health, but blame the Ministry of Finance, no. We cannot say that the Ministry of Health has done nothing, and the responsibility is that of the Ministry of Finance, no. They work collectively and they are a team. It is a failure on the part of those in charge of negotiating this matter; whether the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, the National Labour Commission, the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Finance, we have not lived up to expectation.
I do not think that these nurses are unreasonable. I think that we have failed them. We have failed them because we could have taken a timely approach to engage them and exhaust all the nagging issues, rather than allowing it to escalate. Then we turn around to play the blame game. I would want to seize this opportunity to encourage our Friends in Government to lead the way. They have Executive authority and it is the reason for which we have the Minister for Finance, Minister for Health and the Minister for Labour, Jobs and Employment.
These three Ministries should work together. Fortunately, all of them are Members of Parliament. They should work together as a team; sit down and ensure that the matter is taken out of court. Take responsibility and show leadership. Enough of the death. Even in Korle-Bu, 37 Military Hospital, Ridge Hospital, Komfo Anokye where we say that we have advanced facilities to support health care, people still have complaints, how much more the rural communities? I am not talking about the urban centres. Even in the urban centres, we have some health facilities where people can have access to private medical care.
But the village in Gyengyenadze in Winneba, Gyahadze in Winneba, and Nsuakyir, where these rural folks, all they depend on is the nurse, and they go and there is no nurse, and the CHPS compound has been closed. What we must not forget is that some of these health facilities have single health nurses. They may have just one nurse on duty. And all of them have been shut down for all these days — all these weeks. Let us not talk about Korle-Bu.
Let us talk about those in the rural areas. Somebody is going to deliver, a woman in labour, what services is she getting from the health facility nearby? And they cannot even afford a private health care. Mr Speaker, have we looked at the mortality rates and all? Mr Speaker, I would want to plead with Government. This is not the time to reduce this important national issue to legalities, and in the least, political trivialities. We do not need it. Let us solve the problem.
Mr Speaker, our Side would want to assure Government of our support in resolving this matter at the Parliamentary Committee level. Our Side would also want to plead with our nurses to expedite the engagement with Government so that this impasse is brought to an end. The lives of our people matter. The lives of our rural folk matter. We must save lives. The loss of a single life is a loss to the nation. Mr Speaker, without more, I would want to conclude by calling on Government to take action. Enough is enough.
Thank you very much.
Hon Ayariga Mahama
Bawku Central
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, I think a lot has been said already, and we will not serve any purpose to waste this House’s time with a long speech. Mr Speaker, I just want to place it on record that this Government has not in any way tried to politicise any matter concerning the welfare of the nurses and the midwives. We have not.
Mr Speaker, this is not a matter that began just yesterday. This is a matter that began somewhere in the middle or early 2024. That is how far the matter goes back. The matter went to court and the court did not finish resolving it. The parties themselves resolved the matter out of court, and based on the resolution of the matter, they then tried to get Government to sit up and implement some agreements that were reached.
Mr Speaker, that happened after the Budget had been approved by this House. And so, the appeal has always been that it will be difficult to absorb it in the Budget as concluded. Therefore, we have always pleaded with the nurses to let us look at it in next year’s Budget. That has been the position of Government. Government has never in any way expressed lack of appreciation to the plight of our nurses and midwives.
Today, when your Committee met them, it came to light that there has been a very good working relationship between the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, the Ministry of Health, the Labour Commission and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, and they have all been trying to find an amicable way to resolve this matter.
Mr Speaker, I have not heard the socalled party apparatchiks or so-called party communicators or so-called party journalists trying to undermine the interests and concerns of these nurses. We all depend on these nurses and their services at very critical stages.
Mr Speaker, all of us as Members of Parliament know that there are so many health facilities in our constituencies where but for these nurses and midwives, our people will not have access to healthcare. So, we value them. We appreciate them, and we know the conditions, the trying circumstances that they try to deliver their services—We know these. Mr Speaker, so, we continue to appreciate and value our nurses.
Mr Speaker, I can assure you that these nurses are central to the effort of this Government to stabilise the economy. This is because when we stabilise the economy, whatever wages and salaries we pay them will become valuable because their purchasing powers will be enhanced. We are also looking for opportunities to absorb many of them, and there are ongoing discussions to even seek opportunities for many of them abroad. All these are measures that this Government is putting in place.
So, Mr Speaker, when we met them today, we appealed to them, and they assured us that they were going to think about it. Hopefully, by the close of business today, they will get back to this Parliament. We approached it in a very bipartisan manner, and I think they could see that this House was appealing to them as a collective, not as different political parties or government or as an opposition but both as a Government and an opposition.
They have taken our appeals seriously and promised to get back to us by close of business today. We want to assure our nurses that this Parliament stands with them. This Parliament, in the future budget, will make sure that as many of their concerns as possible are captured in that budget. This Parliament, as I said, will work towards ensuring that as many of their expectations as possible are met by this Government.
The Hon Minister for Finance has never said that he will not address their concerns. He has consistently said that let us look at it in budget of next year. I have heard the Minister for Finance and his Deputy, as well as the Minister for Health, speak on this; they have not rejected the demands of the nurses. They have consistently said that this is a matter that will be addressed and addressed in a way that does not destabilise the Budget and the benefits that this Budget is already conferring on ordinary Ghanaians.
Mr Speaker, with these very few words, I want to thank the joint makers of the Statements, and to also thank your Committee for the effort they have made to meet the nurses and appeal to them. I am very confident that by close of today, this Parliament will hear very good news from the nurses. I am very confident. And this nation, once again, will rally behind its nurses and work very hard and improve the economy, so that we can take better care of our nurses.
No one has insulted any nurse that I have heard. No one has because the nurses are our sisters. They are our mothers. They are our wives. They are our brothers. They are our uncles. They are our constituents, and we love our nurses and our midwives. We love them, and that is why this Parliament has today, met with them, pleaded with them, and expressed that love for our nurses and our midwives. We believe that our nurses and our midwives will reciprocate and respond to the appeal of this Parliament.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Hon Kwabena Mintah Akandoh
Juaboso
Mr Speaker, let me use this opportunity to thank the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, together with all stakeholders, for the successful and fruitful deliberations this morning as far as this strike is concerned.
Mr Speaker, the Ministry— Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Health is the mother Ministry for the nurses and midwives, and we will continue to behave like mothers for these nurses and midwives.
Mr Speaker, let me assure you that out of the fruitful deliberations we had this morning, once the strike is called off, we are committed to engaging our nurses and midwives to arrive at mutually acceptable conditions, so that they will continue to do what they do best to contribute to the health care of this sector.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
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