Drone deal is a useless priority because we lack ambulances & hospitals - Prophet

Founder and General Overseer of Alabaster International Ministries (Alabaster HouseChapel), Prophet Dr. Kofi Oduro has described the drone delivery services which received parliamentary approval recently as a misplaced priority.

The man of God told Kwame Tutu on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM that, the deal is a misplaced one because of the challenges confronting the health sector.

He could not understand why we have inadequate ambulances and yet we had parliamentarians approving a needless deal.

Ghana also lacks access to adequate hospitals and yet we had parliament approving a drone deal in a rush, he added.

He slammed parliamentarians for rushing to approve the deal and failing to give same prominence to the Right to Information Bill (RTI) after many years but found it necessary to rush the drone deal through.

‘’This nation; we are not serious. Look at the hospitals we have in this country. These hospitals are in deplorable state and yet we see a drone deal passed. We have a misplaced and misguided priorities.’’

He made the comments after he was asked to justify why government has abandoned a number of challenges confronting the nation to build a national cathedral.

The man of God told Kwame Tutu the cathedral would help Ghanaians to bring their prayers before an altar and also converge to worship God.

He justified the cathedral and said it is a good decision. But when confronted by claims that it was a misplaced priority, he fired back and said, there are things politicians do with state resources that are misguided including the purchase of V8 vehicles.

He has also challenged Ministers, the President and other appointees to forfeit their salaries for a year, vehicles so we put in the resources to other areas that will benefit the country.

Parliament has by a majority decision approved an agreement to allow the use of drones to distribute essential drugs and blood to health facilities across the country.

The parliamentary approval means USA-based Zipline International Inc, in

partnership with the Ghana Health Service, will next year begin to use the unmanned aircraft systems to deliver essential health care products to hospitals and other health facilities in the country.

The system can also be employed to deliver other items such as urgent letters, examination papers and election materials such as ballot papers.

This makesGhana the only country in the West African sub-region currently using the technology to improve health service delivery.

The Service, which will be designed, installed and operated by USA-based Zipline International Inc. in partnership with the Ghana Health Service, will leverage technology to improve the supply chain of critical medical supplies, reduce waste and save lives.

Zipline was one of the many companies with cutting-edge technology who met and held discussions with the Vice President and the founders and leaders of a number of Ghanaian ICT firms a few weeks ago during H.E. Dr Bawumia’s working visit to Silicon Valley, California, USA.

A number of companies based in the ICT hub of Silicon Valley have also indicated their readiness to explore partnership opportunities with their Ghanaian counterparts after the trip to design and implement Ghanaian solutions for Ghanaian challenges.