'Allawa' cancellation: We turned to men for financial assistance - Nursing students

Some female trainee nurses [names withheld] have revealed on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM that they were ‘prostituting’ their bodies due to the cancellation of the nursing and midwifery allowances by the previous NDC administration.

According to them, the cancellation brought untold financial hardship on them and as a measure to stay in school, they turned to men so they could pay for their school fees.

In the run up to the 2016 elections, former President John Dramani said, he will not restore teacher trainee allowance even if it will cost him the 2016 presidential election.

He said at the time that he would rather risk a second term bid on grounds of principle than on petty politicking which he blames his opponents for doing.

“For partisan politics purposes you have your political opponent come and say when we come back we will restore trainee allowances to colleges of education. For me it is better to lose the election on principle than win it on falsehood,” he said.

His closest contender then candidate Nana Addo who is the current President promised to restore in full the allowance.

The campaign promise has been fulfilled. At a ceremony to launch the restoration, President Akufo-Addo said the decision to restore the scrapped ‘allawa’ was for him to win votes. According to President Akufo-Addo, “it was much more than that. We believed, and still believe, that Ghana needs all the nurses and healthcare workers she can get, if the nation is to have a solid, world class healthcare system, and we think it necessary to provide the relevant incentives to make that possible.”

“The New Patriotic Party and I heard your cry, and assured you of the restoration of these allowances, if we won the election. By the grace of God, and by the generosity and trust of the Ghanaian people, I am here, today, as President of the Republic, ready to fulfill the pledge we made to you,” he said, to a rousing applause from the packed auditorium of the school.

Speaking to Kwame Tutu on Rainbow Radio today [Wednesday] the female students confessed that they had no choice but to turn to men for financial assistance.

The ladies who could not hide their excitement said they now perm their hairs, stock their chop boxes with provisions and also pay their fess with allowance. They prayed and asked God to keep the president alive for many years so he can continue implementing his good policies.

Meanwhile, government has committed GHC232 million for the payment of nursing trainees’ allowances for the 2017/2018 academic year.

“For the 2017/2018 academic year, effective September 2017, 58,000 health trainees comprising nurses and midwives, will be paid GH¢400 per person for each of the 10 months of the academic year. This means the government will be spending a total of GH¢ 232 million for this academic year,” Akufo-Addo said.