Executive Director and Head of Global Research at Global InfoAnalytics, Mussa K. Dankwah
Mussa K. Dankwah, Executive Director and Head of Global Research at Global InfoAnalytics, has bemoaned the inability of Ghanaians to hold elected leaders accountable. He lamented that although Ghanaians have been successful in electing leaders, holding them accountable has dwindled.
Commenting on the death of a patient who was allegedly abandoned by authorities of the Winneba Hospital in the bush, Mr. Dankwah stated that one would never have imagined such an occurrence in Ghana, given the country's modest progress. He expressed sadness that no one has resigned in the aftermath of the revelations.
Mr. Dankwah revealed that he left a more lucrative career in the UK to live and work in Ghana solely to contribute to its development. Despite the difficulties in the country, he has remained in Ghana, even though he has the option to return to the UK.
"I had the choice to remain in the UK with my British passport and never return for good, as many of my compatriots have done. I could have been earning over £100,000 a year if I had not chosen to return to Ghana in 2009, but I chose to come home to build this country, and I have not regretted it. I chose Ghana over the British passport to serve the Queen, and now the King.
"The journey will be long, but we are here for the long haul. I am not going to be distracted by the name-calling and insults because I did not expect anything less. In fact, I can withstand much worse.
"I have made a difference in many people's lives through my contribution to public service, not as a government official but through the private sector, and I continue to do so to this day. I did not have to wait for a government appointment to serve this country that we all love.
"Things are really hard. I still have the option to leave and return to the United Kingdom, but I have chosen to stay put because we want this country to make progress in addressing our needs and challenges.
"I saw the suffering my own parents, especially my mother, went through in bringing us up. When she was sick and could not afford medical care, though Ghana was poor as we knew it then, I could not imagine that a hospital could throw her out because she could not afford to pay for her care, even at a time when Ghana did not have a national insurance scheme and we were not a lower-middle-income country. Now that we have a health insurance scheme and have also attained lower-middle-income country status, we are dumping people in the bush to die. I am not belittling the progress we have made in this sector, but that progress should have ensured that such instances never occur," he wrote.
For him, such happenings have their roots in politics.
"What have the people of this country done to deserve this? I have been heartbroken since the story broke. I have been thinking, what could make a government facility funded by our taxes do such a thing to the daughter of Ama Ghana? Something is wrong with us, which goes beyond politics but has roots that can be traced to politics. Yes, we have been successful in electing leaders, but accountability in governance has retrogressed.
"We are destroying this country called Ghana..." he added.
On June 13, 2024, it emerged that an elderly female patient of the Winneba Hospital had died after being transported in an ambulance and abandoned in a bush, leading to her death. The hospital received widespread condemnation for the alleged act. The Medical Director of the Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital has subsequently been asked to step aside for a committee set up by the Health Ministry to investigate the matter.
