The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) is expressing disappointment over government’s decision to include only two of their proposed allowances in the mid-year budget.
The Association says what government has granted them is inadequate, thus could threaten the country’s peaceful industrial climate.
At a news conference in Accra on July 11, President of the Association, Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, revealed that government plans to include just two items- the book and research and uniform allowances in the 2025 mid-year budget.
The remaining demands such as fuel allowances and the eight percent rural incentive are now being deferred to the 2026 budget.
“The Association’s position in the meeting was that it was highly unacceptable and confirms our long assertion that our employer does not place premium on our welfare as nurses and midwives in Ghana, we therefore strongly urge the employer to act swiftly,” Mrs Ofori-Ampofo said.
She noted that, “we wish to put on record that we are here, because someone chose to forget the collective agreement of the Nurses and Midwives of Ghana during the transition from the previous government to the current government and therefore it was never up for discussion. We are here are here because someone chose not to include the cost of our collective agreement into the national budget read on 11th March 2025 despite the repeated assurances given to the leadership of the Association that it was been worked on. We are here because a section of our members chose to engage in unnecessary litigation at the expense of the welfare of our members.”
Earlier on July 10, leaders of the Association met with the Parliamentary Select Committee to press home their demands.
But government, through the committee, only committed to two allowances in the immediate budget, offering little clarity on timelines for the rest.
follow-up meeting has now been scheduled for Tuesday, July 15, with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).
The Association says this meeting is crucial and must yield results or risk upsetting the current industrial peace.
” The leadership of the Association will avail itself for the meeting on Tuesday 15th July 2025 by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to discuss this further for the inclusion into the mid-year budget.”
Of all the items spelt out in the appendix 2 of the collective agreement, we wish to reiterate our position that it must be captured as part of the national budget which will be read in November 2025 and our subsequent action as an Association will be premised on the outcome of our meeting with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission on 15th July 2025 and we expect good faith and commitment because we shall advise ourselves should engagement fail to address our concerns,” she pointed out.
In a related development, the Association is also warning the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) to stop what it describes as intimidation of its members.
What we want CHAG officials to understand is that as nurses and midwives working in their various facilities we are still employed by the government of Ghana and we are paid by the government of Ghana. CHAG doesn’t pay us our monthly remuneration. CHAG doesn’t pay us what is contained in our collective agreement, CHAG to whatever minimum allowances they pay it doesn’t even cut across all nurses and midwives who work in their facilities,” she explained.
We have served CHAG with our statement saying that all those draconian policies they want to mete out to our Nurses and Midwives who participated in the actions we took, those nurses and midwives did not do it on their own. We gave the directive as leaders, we have asked our lawyers to also serve them a letter, if CHAG should go on with those intimidation of our members we are going to take them on,” she noted.
The coming days will be critical as nurses and midwives await firm commitments from government — with the stakes higher than ever.
That meeting with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is scheduled for July 15. All eyes will be on the outcome.
Onuaonline
