Ranking Member of the Health Committee in Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has warned Minister for Health, Bernard Okoe-Boye, to abide by his two-week timeline regarding the clearance of the locked up Global Fund medication at the Tema Harbour.
Akandoh emphasized that the minority members are reasonable and willing to work within the proposed two-week timeline the Minister gave, although he criticized the prolonged delay.
He, however, stressed that though the Minority is reasonable and ready to give the government time to clear the goods, it would hit the streets if all the 180 containers were not removed by the end of June.
Speaking to the media in Parliament on Thursday, June 20, the Ranking member expressed frustration that these vital medications and commodities have remained in the port for an entire year and questioned why the government still needs two weeks to clear them.
He said, “We are a group of reasonable people. So we have accepted the two weeks given by the Minister responsible for health, although it doesn’t make any sense to me to wait two weeks to clear commodities that have been out there for one good year.”
“We are sending a clear warning that within these two weeks, all containers containing these drugs must be cleared from the ports,” he said.
He expressed disappointment that despite the urgency, not all containers containing drugs and commodities have been cleared from the ports in the past.
The Ranking Member was critical of previous approaches, where containers were cleared in bits, and clarified that such behaviour will no longer be tolerated.
“Failure to do so will leave us with no option but to hit the streets in protest,” Akandoh warned.