Otabil is 101% right; the state has no business in hospitals & schools

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Issahaku Alhassan 9 years ago

who decides where to invest as a state? otabil must form a party to market his philosophy to Ghanaians and not to hide behind the Church to do a bidding of some parties

who decides where to invest as a state? otabil must form a party to market his philosophy to Ghanaians and not to hide behind the Church to do a bidding of some parties
John 9 years ago

You would never understand this article until you move out of this country,Russia at the moment is privatizing its railway.The Govt wants to provide only the rail(lines) whilst private companies are encouraged to buy train & ...
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You would never understand this article until you move out of this country,Russia at the moment is privatizing its railway.The Govt wants to provide only the rail(lines) whilst private companies are encouraged to buy train & operate it.Just compare that to Ghana Railway or even MMT & VIP Co.
Nana Kwaku 9 years ago

State participation is the reason why Ghana cannot merge JHS & SHS,for us to have one pre-university school.Which would have allowed every Ghanaian to be educated to College level at 18.Schools like Achimota,Augustines,Legon ...
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State participation is the reason why Ghana cannot merge JHS & SHS,for us to have one pre-university school.Which would have allowed every Ghanaian to be educated to College level at 18.Schools like Achimota,Augustines,Legon Presec,Accra Academy,Prempeh,Aburi Girls,Mfanstipim etc shd all be privatized and taken out of Govt budget whilst that shd have been spent on them given the schools in the rural areas.Most students who attend these schools come from privilege homes who can easily afford payment for their education.
Frank Appiah 9 years ago

There is evidence that Nkrumah's free education policy has produced some of the world best scienists,medical doctors,engineers,professors and teachers.If Baidoo has met students from our premier universities who cannot put co ...
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There is evidence that Nkrumah's free education policy has produced some of the world best scienists,medical doctors,engineers,professors and teachers.If Baidoo has met students from our premier universities who cannot put complete sentences together,I have also met numerous students from Ghana's mushroom private universities who are even worse.Baidoo should rather address the issue of the worsening corruption and mismanagement of politicians and Government officials of today,which is the underlying cause of all our current problems and stop beating about the bush.How many Ghanaians can afford to pay medical bills in private hospitals and educate their children in private schools without Government intervention? I am surprised why Baidoo doesn't know that public school education is free even in capitalist United states.Otabil is 101% WRONG.
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago

Hello Frank, I was expecting you to say that what I said about some of the Ghanaian premier university students is wrong. Rather you confirmed it. Where do the students from the private universities have their primary and sec ...
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Hello Frank, I was expecting you to say that what I said about some of the Ghanaian premier university students is wrong. Rather you confirmed it. Where do the students from the private universities have their primary and secondary education? They are all trained in government primary and secondary schools.
Kofi Ata, Cambridge, UK 9 years ago

Mr Philip Kobina Baidoo when you make reference to my articles, please be accurate and do not put words into my mouth. You stated and I quote, "I will ask again, what makes people like Mr Kofi Ata assume that the private sect ...
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Mr Philip Kobina Baidoo when you make reference to my articles, please be accurate and do not put words into my mouth. You stated and I quote, "I will ask again, what makes people like Mr Kofi Ata assume that the private sector cannot manage our health and educational requirements"? Where in my aforementioned article did I make such a claim?

I only questioned the basis of Pastor Mensah Otabil saying that the state should get out of hospitals and schools so that the private could take over because the state is not good at managing them. I challenged that assertion because even in the most advanced countries with heavy private sector engagement in most or all areas of the economy including health and education, the state has not abandoned health and education for the private sector to take over. As I have been living in the UK for sometime, I gave the UK example. You are aware what exist here in the UK when it comes to health and education and the involvement of the state and private investors. My point is that Pastor Mensah Otabil was wrong to ask the state to get out of education and hospitals so that the private sector could take over and run them better. The state involvement should not stop the private sector from investing in health and education. Indeed, it's already happening in Ghana and therefore his call was needless. I also gave examples of private sector failures in the health sector here in the UK to prove Pastor Otabil wrong. I never said that the private sector cannot manage health and education requirements in Ghana.

Another important factor why Pastor Mensah Otabil is 101 percent wrong is that health and education cannot be left at the expense of profit. That is why direct state involvement is critical and Pastor Mensah Otabil's call is out of order and self-fulfilling profit motivated agenda more than nation building objective.

Could you do me a favour and mention a country that has developed solely on private education and private health care system as Pastor Mensah Otabil is suggesting? It takes a partnership approach by both but with the state leading.
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago

Hello Mr Ata, I did not quote you; it was an assumption. Thank you.

Hello Mr Ata, I did not quote you; it was an assumption. Thank you.
Read 9 years ago

Stop making a fool of yourself. Are your kids attending any of the hideously private schools in England? Do you and your family rely solely on the services of "Harley Street" doctors or you use the NHS in England? The is no e ...
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Stop making a fool of yourself. Are your kids attending any of the hideously private schools in England? Do you and your family rely solely on the services of "Harley Street" doctors or you use the NHS in England? The is no evidence that capitalism saved the IRISH from the dreadful famine that they encountered.

Below is a fine example of a small country like Cuba with no natural resources. Read.

HAVANA — Cuba is out to boost its top export, an ever-more critical pillar of its economy. And it’s not sugar: hired-out Cuban doctors earn the Communist government over six billion dollars a year.

Medical services exports “are now the leading source of hard-currency income for the nation, and have great potential to keep growing,” Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca said at a recent event.

About 40,000 Cubans doctors are working on contracts in 66 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The next big-ticket client could be Brazil — the booming South American giant is considering hiring 6,000 Cuban doctors to help cover its health care staff shortage.

It may be somewhat surprising that Cuba — once known for its exports like sugar, cigars, citrus fruits and rum — now has four main pillars of its state-controlled economy.

Only one — nickel — is a traditional commodity, bringing in $1.1 billion a year as the country’s fourth most important import. But in this nation of endless white beaches, nickel is still less than half as significant as tourism, which brings in $2.5 billion a year into government coffers.

Impressively, in a Caribbean country of just 11 million people, remittances — money sent by relatives abroad — also end up giving $2.5 billion to the Cuban government. Why? Because their family members here spend it mostly at stores owned by the government.

Each of those big-ticket, hard-currency spinners however pales in comparison to the whopping $6 billion Cuba earns each year in exporting professional services — sports trainers, teachers and especially doctors — on overseas contracts.

At home, doctors earn between $25 and $41 dollars each month, and they are not allowed to leave Cuba at will.

If they were to head to the nearby US state of Florida, where Cubans can work legally just after arrival, they could earn a physician’s salary of $150,000 per year or more.

Private mechanics, waiters at restaurants catering to tourists, and even hairdressers can earn far more than do highly-trained doctors in Cuba, making overseas medical missions appealing to this country’s doctors.

The Cuban government acts as a middleman in the transactions, hiring out their medical staff to foreign countries.

The amounts Havana charges for the services of their workers are not made public, but payment, in hard currency, is for significantly more than what the doctors are paid personally. The government keeps the difference between its contracting price and what it pays the Cuban worker monthly.

It’s a big business that is getting bigger: Havana has said it wants to increase the number of countries paying to import Cuban doctors. In a nation proud of its public health tradition, it also is charity in some cases: Cuba gives doctors’ services to 40 countries that cannot afford to pay for them for free.

President Raul Castro’s government recently vowed that medical missions, which started under his brother Fidel Castro back in 1998, would be maintained and even expanded.

“We are going to continue assistance in solidarity to countries that cannot pay for these medical services, as in the case of Haiti,” said Health Minister Roberto Morales.

At the moment, 26 nations are paying the Cuban government to send them doctors, at a salary level determined by the Cuban government.

Morales said money earned from the medical contracting arrangement with Venezuela, for example, “helps pay for expenses we incur in other countries” and is also used “to improve workers’ health care and working conditions.”

The politically based economic arrangement with Venezuela harkens back to the Cold War, when Cuba exported its sugar to the East bloc for cut-rate Soviet oil.

Cuba hopes one day to be able to tap yet another source of revenue: the cash-strapped government believes there are vast crude oil assets off the island’s north coast.

But as long as it is unable to access them, Cuba remains economically isolated and dependent on Venezuela, which provides the communist island with cut-rate oil and is the single largest importer of Cuba’s medical export workers, taking in about 30,000 of them.
Read 9 years ago

hideously expensive private schools

hideously expensive private schools
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago

The only time when people resort to cheap jibes is when they lose the debate. You are just coward hiding behind a moniker. Are you afraid of the sting of my pen? Next time be a man and use your name.

The only time when people resort to cheap jibes is when they lose the debate. You are just coward hiding behind a moniker. Are you afraid of the sting of my pen? Next time be a man and use your name.

SAINT 9 years ago

OTABIL HAS NO HUMAN FACE.HIS MISSION IS TO EXPLOIT THE VULNERABLE TO THE MARROW.

OTABIL HAS NO HUMAN FACE.HIS MISSION IS TO EXPLOIT THE VULNERABLE TO THE MARROW.
SAY IT LOUD ! 9 years ago

I REGARD YOU AS THE REAL EXAMPLE OF A PASTOR. I CALL YOU MY PASTOR THOUGH I DON'T BELIEVE YOUR FOREIGN FAITH BY THE WAY YOU CAN'T ALL MAKE THE SENSE IN JESUS BEING AFRICAN, THAT BEATS MY IMAGINATION. YET, YOU ARE PASTOR REAL ...
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I REGARD YOU AS THE REAL EXAMPLE OF A PASTOR. I CALL YOU MY PASTOR THOUGH I DON'T BELIEVE YOUR FOREIGN FAITH BY THE WAY YOU CAN'T ALL MAKE THE SENSE IN JESUS BEING AFRICAN, THAT BEATS MY IMAGINATION. YET, YOU ARE PASTOR REAL, EVEN EXTRAORDINAIRE WHEN IT COMES TO PASTOR.

BUT JUST WATCH OUT AND DONT GET TOO CAESAR BECAUSE OF YOUR TRIBAL AND POLITICAL PERSUATION OR YOUR DEEP AND UNREASONABLE LOVE FOR YOUR HOLOCAUSTERS OF EUROPE.

JESUS WAS AN AFRICAN AND A 'SOCIALIST' AND FOR THE POOR, NOT FOR CAESARS AND THEIR VULTURE CAPITALISM. VENTURE TO GET GOVERNMENT OUT OF SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS AND SEE, AND EUROPE WOULD RE-TAKE US PHYSICAL SLAVES IN 20 YEARS!.

THINK ABOUT IT AND MARK MY WORDS.
NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK, IF YOU THINK VULTRE CAPITALISM IS FOR JESUS AND GHANA AND AFRICA, YOU ARE TOTALLY WRONG, SIR !.
Kwame 9 years ago

Poverty of Intellectualism...
The countries on top the world education and health index, including Cuba are those that have nation run free education and health system (national health service). Countries that have the best ...
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Poverty of Intellectualism...
The countries on top the world education and health index, including Cuba are those that have nation run free education and health system (national health service). Countries that have the best technology and food programme are those that are run by the state. Russia has technology advantage over U.S. because the state is in its control, the same applies to China and both China and India with huge populations are able to fee their people because the state control both production and marketing of food. Dr. Baidoo stop hanging your rag of intellectual poverty here on the web. Dr. Mensah Otabil has told us that though he collected school fees from our children he did not train them for the job market. He and others told us only yesterday that they prefer nationals of South East Asia to their own Ghanaian graduates.
Read 9 years ago

When the private banks in the west such as RBS,ABN-AMRO, LIYODS etc went bust due to greed, the state came up to their rescue with billions of taxpayers money.
All the evidence proves that TV evangelists are another bunch of ...
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When the private banks in the west such as RBS,ABN-AMRO, LIYODS etc went bust due to greed, the state came up to their rescue with billions of taxpayers money.
All the evidence proves that TV evangelists are another bunch of "greedy bastards" in the race in "Raping God". Perfect examples are Jim Baker,Jim Swaggart etc. Otabil is no different.
This is a fine example of what state controlled health service did for capitalist oriented Brazil.

Last summer, long before before Brazil was demolished 7-1 by Germany in the World Cup, the country faced a crisis of another sort. Millions of citizens marched in cities across the country to demand wholesale reforms to the country’s crippled public health care system, which faced huge shortages of doctors and a failing infrastructure.
That’s when the tiny island nation of Cuba stepped in to this neglected area of the world’s seventh-largest economy.
Under Brazil’s Mais Médicos (“More Doctors”) program, which pays foreign physicians to work in underserved areas of the country, Cuba sent 4,500 doctors to rural areas in the Amazon and to the underserved slums known as favelas in its booming cities. The move angered Brazil’s doctors’ unions, who protested outside hospitals, and the Brazilian Medical Association filed a lawsuit in the country’s Supreme Court questioning its existence. Protestors denounced the program as only a temporary solution to a systemic problem, saying the changes should come internally, not by importing doctors.
Brazil currently has 1.9 physicians per thousand people, according to the World Bank, one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios in the world. In the country of roughly 200 million, the disparity is so pronounced that some remote areas have virtually no doctors to serve patients. Cuba, on the other hand, has 6.7 physicians per thousand people, the highest number of doctors in proportion to population in the world, and some of the lowest annual costs for medical care.

To Mr Baidoo, capitalism is flawless.
Kojo Billy Duncan 9 years ago

I hope Mr Baidoo does not subscribe to the ideas of the neoliberal economists that when private entrepreneurs are in financial crisis, it is alright for the State to bail them out with tax-payers money. In other words, indivi ...
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I hope Mr Baidoo does not subscribe to the ideas of the neoliberal economists that when private entrepreneurs are in financial crisis, it is alright for the State to bail them out with tax-payers money. In other words, individualize profits but socialize losses. Does the DKM saga come to mind?
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago

Hello Kojo, I am not a neoliberal economist, and I am very happy that you used the phrase 'I hope'. And if you want my opinion, which I am happy to offer as my humble courtesy, the government has no business bailing out priva ...
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Hello Kojo, I am not a neoliberal economist, and I am very happy that you used the phrase 'I hope'. And if you want my opinion, which I am happy to offer as my humble courtesy, the government has no business bailing out private entrepreneurs. Thank you.
Honesty - the best policy! 9 years ago

Baidoo I dont need to waste my time on you. I think those who have responded have done enough to pump some sense into your half-baked intellect.

Baidoo I dont need to waste my time on you. I think those who have responded have done enough to pump some sense into your half-baked intellect.
MICHAEL ANSAH 9 years ago

Baidoo's porous argument clearly indicates he is in a confused state of mind.All his comments do not make sense.

Baidoo's porous argument clearly indicates he is in a confused state of mind.All his comments do not make sense.
AARON 9 years ago

Kwame,Check your information before you publish them.Neither China or Russia have technological advantage over the US.The US is far advanced than any of these countries in the field of technology. In fact Chinese are known a ...
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Kwame,Check your information before you publish them.Neither China or Russia have technological advantage over the US.The US is far advanced than any of these countries in the field of technology. In fact Chinese are known as the number one "thieves of patent" in the world. In terms of food production the US has more food surplus than either China or India. This is in part due to private businesses.To a large extend Otabil is right.
James Koufie 9 years ago

Is not surprising that both Otabil and Baidoo who are all beneficiaries of Nkrumah's free education policy do not appreciate how Nkrumah's policy has made t them who they are.

Is not surprising that both Otabil and Baidoo who are all beneficiaries of Nkrumah's free education policy do not appreciate how Nkrumah's policy has made t them who they are.

Man 9 years ago

Baidoo, Are private people (individuals) forbidden from establishing hospitals and schools in Ghana? The answer is no. Then , why don't you and people who think like you establish formidable hospitals and schools in Ghana to ...
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Baidoo, Are private people (individuals) forbidden from establishing hospitals and schools in Ghana? The answer is no. Then , why don't you and people who think like you establish formidable hospitals and schools in Ghana to run the government hospitals and schools out of business? What is stopping you?
Kojo Billy Duncan 9 years ago

Fantastic point. Furthermore, how many of the private tertiary education institutions run courses in the sciences, engineering and technology that are known to require expensive equipment?

Fantastic point. Furthermore, how many of the private tertiary education institutions run courses in the sciences, engineering and technology that are known to require expensive equipment?
C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago

I won't waste time debunking it. Even drop-outs in London here will be shocked to learn that the govt shouldn't be involved in education and health care.

You so-called African right-wing jokers are simply pathetic!

An ...
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I won't waste time debunking it. Even drop-outs in London here will be shocked to learn that the govt shouldn't be involved in education and health care.

You so-called African right-wing jokers are simply pathetic!

Andy-K
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago

Hello Andy, calling me a right-wing joker is uninteresting. However, what has your left leaning ideologies, which your fraternity hold tight like a child and his teddy bear, done for Africa? Destitution and failed states like ...
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Hello Andy, calling me a right-wing joker is uninteresting. However, what has your left leaning ideologies, which your fraternity hold tight like a child and his teddy bear, done for Africa? Destitution and failed states like Somalia and Libya, which is replicated across the world. You can debunk that rather debunking what I have written. Thank you.
Kojo Billy Duncan 9 years ago

It is unfortunate that you cited Somalia and Libya as failed states. A thorough understanding of the history of these states teaches one to appreciate that they failed only after the overthrow of progressive and patriotic lea ...
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It is unfortunate that you cited Somalia and Libya as failed states. A thorough understanding of the history of these states teaches one to appreciate that they failed only after the overthrow of progressive and patriotic leaders by imperialists and their mis-educated local traitors. Interestingly, the whole World is experiencing the blow-back.
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago

Hello Kojo, if everything was so well and good, why will these people fall on their own sword? Or better still why will they overthrow them? Thank you.

Hello Kojo, if everything was so well and good, why will these people fall on their own sword? Or better still why will they overthrow them? Thank you.
Kojo Billy Duncan 9 years ago

Simply put, selfish greed and only wishing to satisfy ones interests. Old boy, hope to meet you soon in Ghana. We can continue this discourse and I will introduce you to some enlightening material.

Simply put, selfish greed and only wishing to satisfy ones interests. Old boy, hope to meet you soon in Ghana. We can continue this discourse and I will introduce you to some enlightening material.
lankwei 9 years ago

You are absolutely right. Which country in the world is totally devoid of state participation/involvement? Defending Otabil is asinine!

You are absolutely right. Which country in the world is totally devoid of state participation/involvement? Defending Otabil is asinine!
kutsii 9 years ago

There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end might be the way of death-JESUS. So don't be wise in ur own conceits. Nonsense. Go and worship Otabil and consider him a perfect man. Fool. When he secretly sneezed in th ...
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There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end might be the way of death-JESUS. So don't be wise in ur own conceits. Nonsense. Go and worship Otabil and consider him a perfect man. Fool. When he secretly sneezed in the darkest night like Nicodemus to have a meeting with Akufo Addo at Kufuor's residence where were u? Don't u know Otabil thus compromised his dignity, integrity and respect as a man of God and became a 'god of men? Don't be silly next time trying to infallibulate a fallible home sapien like Otabil. What percentage do u think God will give Otabil? Nonsense
Kofi Ghanaba 9 years ago

Is the person writing this garbage here high on weed? He writes: All governments, it doesn’t matter where they are on earth, are infinitely incompetent in the management of any conceivable human enterprise. The only thing t ...
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Is the person writing this garbage here high on weed? He writes: All governments, it doesn’t matter where they are on earth, are infinitely incompetent in the management of any conceivable human enterprise. The only thing they know how to prosecute well is war – and that is destruction.

This is the statement that can only come out of the mind that is not functioning: ALL governments.... INCOMPETENT in the management of ANY .......human enterprise?????????? Shocking idiocy of someone who, in his own mind, is very brilliant! Were this not the case, this person would not be spending time making an argument that can be found to be patently false with just one example, and there are many cases available to debunk this rubbish. This writer has set himself up with the philosophical principle of modus tollens. The writer should first learn what this phrase means before posting such crap for people to read!

kaketonti 9 years ago

BAIDOO, YOU ARE VERY,VERY WRONG.WE NEED BOTH THE BLACK AND WHITE KEYS TO MAKE HARMONY IN MUSIC:-DR AGGREY.OTABIL IS NOT A MAN OF GOD.HE IS SIMPLY A SATANIC POLITICIAN WITH NO SCRUPLES.

BAIDOO, YOU ARE VERY,VERY WRONG.WE NEED BOTH THE BLACK AND WHITE KEYS TO MAKE HARMONY IN MUSIC:-DR AGGREY.OTABIL IS NOT A MAN OF GOD.HE IS SIMPLY A SATANIC POLITICIAN WITH NO SCRUPLES.

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Otabil is 101% right; the state has no business in hospitals & schools

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