A group known as the Center for Policy Development (CDP), wants government to stop paying allowances to nurses and teachers undergoing training.
The Center believes such monies could be used for other things that will impact positively on the education of these trainees.
The NPP, after assuming office in 2017, resumed the payment of the allowances after it was scrapped by the Mahama administration.
However, speaking to Citi News, the Executive Director of the Center for Policy Development, Ishmael Bin Yahuza, said the allowances are draining the nation’s coffers.
“Even if we have enough money, we have other areas that are equally important that deserve attention. You go to our basic schools and hospitals, you will find out that they lack basic tools to work with. We think that the money should be used for other purposes instead of paying allowances. They could also use it to expand infrastructure.”
Allowances restored
The issue of allowance for trainee nurses became a major campaign point in the 2016 elections after the New Patriotic Party promised to restore the payments which were scrapped by the Mahama government.
The NPP government restored the of GH¢400 allowance effective September 2017 with an elaborate ceremony to the joy of the trainee nurses who had complained about the hardships they faced without those funds.
President Akufo-Addo said an amount of GHc232 million had been allocated for the stipend.
Mahama scraps trainee allowances
The then NDC government in 2014 scrapped teacher trainee allowance, despite several calls to compel government to reintroduce it.
Nurses in the Upper East Region warned that the status of allowances would influence their vote in the 2016 December polls.
But the government insisted the decision allowed it to expand various health and educational infrastructure in the country as well as remove the restrictions on admission to the various training institutions.
Source: citinewsroom.com
