Local Government Service Teams Up With Private Health Insurance Company To Collapse NHIS

The Office of The Head of Local Government Service is colluding to forcibly deduct monies running into millions of Ghana cedis every month from thousands of Ghanaian workers accross the country under a shady health insurance scheme starting from July 2023.

This follows the publication of a communca notifying workers about the intention of the Service to compulsorily enroll them because of an arrangement the service has made with Controller And Accountant Generals Department and a private health insurance service provider with a questionable record.

Workers are very concerned about the lack of confidence that the Local Government Service has in governments National Health Insurance Scheme especially when the service plays a crucial role in formulation and implementation of Government policies and programmes.

It’s alleged that this arrangement has the tendency to benefit a few people at the top management of the service, inview of the aggressive posture with which this quentionable arrangement is being shoved down the throat of Government workers allegedly by the Head of Local Government Service after several workers turned down the offer to subscribe due to poor conditions of Service , low salaries and substandard products by the private health service provider .

The Local Government Service has been in the news offlate for very negative reasons , allegations of sale of appointment letters to Ghanaian citizens looking for jobs, nepotism, curruption due to the terrible performance of the service in Ghanas annual audit report , failure by the council to ensure simple division of labour and specialisation in the appointment of Coordinating Directors and inability of the service to enforce its own intra-regional and inter regional postings which is contributing to overcrowding of office’s in major urban areas like Accra, Kumasi etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several staff intervied expressed disappointment with the Local Government Service Council for failing to call CLOGSAG to order following months of forcible deduction of monies for a pension scheme that staff didn’t subscribe to . The matter is currently in court with the High Court in Accra. Its important to note that Local Government Service staff are the least paid in the country and despite a major strike two years ago their promised enhanced conditions of Service is still pending. The fear of victimisation appears to be consolidating a culture of impunity within top management and silence in the rank and file of the Local Government Service one worker said.

Some of the workers are threatening a demonstration ,strike action and a petition for the removal of the Head of Service for abuse of office if the illegal deductions go ahead in July 2023.

 

 

 

The parliamentary service Committee on Local Governance must act immediately. We need them to sit up now. The Local Government Service workers are calling on them to rescue them from oppression.

Nana Addo must speak for us . He should direct the Head of Service to enroll all of us on National Health Insurance Scheme , that is more reliable at least we know that our monies are not going into private pockets one worker advocated.

What is happening to the ethics of legal rationality on the part of public office holders in Ghana ? Increasing Neopatrimonialism in Ghanas Local Government Service cannot deliver decentralisation, democracy and development . Our state institutions cannot struggle with adherence to the law’s of Natural Justice and the rule of law after years of political transformation. Heads must begin to roll.

 

 

 

Source:  Nana Ama Ata Aidoo II

 

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