A pressure group in Bawku, Youth for Development Association is demanding the immediate dismissal of the Bawku Municipal Manager of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The group accused Mr. Seidu Mohamadu Akugri of financial embezzlement and also for allowing Togolese and Burkinabes to register with the NHIS. The group further demanded forensic audit on the Bawku NHIS Scheme accounts.
Spokesperson for the group, Atariwini Andrew claims maintaining the scheme Manager could collapse the scheme. He complains about the delay in renewals of NHIS cards which according to him have denied clients their right to quality health care service.
But in an interview with A1 NEWS on Thursday, Mr. Akugri denied all the allegations leveled against him. On the alleged financial embezzlement, he said he was aware of some machinations to get him out of office because there were false rumours that he was interested in the Municipal Chief Executive’s position. This he claimed he has denied many times but for whatever reason best known to the rumour mongers, they continued to peddle lies.
He therefore threw a challenge to appropriate authorities to investigate him and if he was found culpable, appropriate sections could be taken against him.
Touching on the allegation on Togolese and Burkinabes been allowed to register with the scheme in the area, Mr. Akugri admitted the practice has existed for a long time now but strongly blamed residents for allowing their relatives in those countries to use their house numbers to enroll on the scheme.
Asked what measures his office has put in place to address the problem, the scheme manager said it had organized fora and radio programmes to discourage residents from the practice but their efforts did not yield the desired results as residents continued to condone with their relatives in the neighbouring countries by allowing them to use their house numbers to enroll on the scheme.
Credit: William Jalulah/a1radioonline.com/Ghana
