Members of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (Ghana CCM) of the Global Fund in Ghana have threatened to hit the streets on June 25, 2024, to register their displeasure over the government’s “inability” to clear the remaining consignment of medical supplies shipped into the country by donors.
The group lamented that there were 120 containers of medication from the Global Fund left to be cleared at the port, but the government was not attending to the matter with the urgency it deserved.
In April this year, a group of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) held a press conference to draw the government’s attention to some locked-up commodities donated by the Global Fund.
The freights comprised medications for treatment of Tuberculosis, Malaria, insecticide treated nets, and rapid diagnostic test kits.
Ghana CCM, in an open letter to the president on June 11, 2024, signed by the acting Chair, Mr Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin, said 14 out of the 182 containers were cleared by the government, following agitations by the CSOs.
It said additional 48 containers were later released, however, some “are still gathering moss” at the port while health facilities in the country were out of supply of the commodities.
Mr Ortsin said the inability of the government to clear the remaining medical provisions at the port had been a matter of concern to members of the international community.
“Some are asking whether the government of Ghana no longer has control over its ports, because they [international agencies] do not understand how a sovereign State cannot clear commodities from its port,”he stated.
The acting Chair said the situation required quicker intervention by the government as it could affect relations between Ghana and the Global Fund.
“Global Fund is a very strategic partner of Ghana and we need to desist from inaction that may jeopardise our relations with the Fund. Since 2002, Ghana has never experienced this kind of challenge in receiving Global Fund commodities. So what has changed?”he asked.
Mr Ortsin said Ghana CCM was aware of the government’s financial challenges, but that should not be “an excuse for the current situation we find ourselves.
“We are not enthused about government’s handling of the matter. As a country, we should not have sunk so low to this level where we have now become the butt of international jokes and gossips,” he stated.
Ghana CCM, therefore, urged the government to support the Ministry of Health to “work out a lasting solution” to the difficulty in clearing the outstanding medical supplies from the port.
Mr Ortsin said the group would exercise its civic rights during the demonstration on June 25, 2024, and present a petition to the government on “a litany of issues” affecting Ghana’s relations with Global Fund and other donors.
