The
campaign
team
of
Dr.
Mahamudu
Bawumia
has
urged
Ghanaians
to
reject
attempts
by
the
NDC
to
mislead
them
into
voting
for
the
opposition
party
in
the
2024
general
elections.
This
call
comes
in
response
to
recent
comments
by
John
Mahama,
who
claimed
that
the
Free
SHS
and
the
National
Health
Insurance
policies
were
introduced
by
the
NDC.
Dennis
Miracles
Aboagye,
the
campaign’s
Director
of
Communication,
addressed
these
claims
during
a
social
media
show
titled
“The
Next
Chapter,”
spearheaded
by
the
campaign
team.
He
accused
the
NDC
of
making
similar
claims
in
the
2008
election
only
to
dismantle
social
interventions
introduced
by
the
John
Kufuor
administration.
Aboagye
asserted
that
the
National
Health
Insurance
Policy
was
actually
implemented
by
former
president
John
Agyekum
Kufuor,
contrary
to
Mahama’s
claims
that
the
NDC
piloted
the
policy
in
Damongo
and
Nkoranza.
He
clarified
that
the
idea
of
a
health
insurance
policy
in
Ghana
emerged
because
the
Rawlings
administration
had
replaced
a
free
healthcare
policy
with
a
‘cash
and
carry’
system.
The
challenges
of
this
system
led
the
Catholic
Church,
with
community
and
Dutch
NGO
funding,
to
introduce
a
health
insurance
scheme
in
Nkoranza
and
Damongo.
“It
is
never
true
that
the
NHIS
was
piloted
by
the
NDC
in
Nkoranza
and
Damongo.
It
was
the
Catholic
Church
in
collaboration
with
the
community
supported
by
a
non-governmental
organization,
to
finance
it.”
Dennis
Aboagye
Miracles
claimed.
He
explained
that
the
success
of
the
scheme
in
Nkoranza
prompted
about
47
other
communities
to
implement
their
forms
of
the
National
Health
Insurance
Scheme.
This,
in
2003,
led
the
government
to
introduce
mutual
district
health
schemes,
allowing
residents
to
access
healthcare
in
their
registered
districts.
Aboagye
also
disputed
former
President
Mahama’s
claims
that
the
policy
was
nationalized
by
the
late
President
John
Evans
Atta
Mills.
He
clarified
that
in
2007,
the
government
consolidated
all
district
mutual
schemes
into
one
national
health
insurance
scheme,
providing
one
health
insurance
card
for
use
across
the
country.
“What
the
National
Health
Insurance
card
did
was
that
the
card
you
use
for
your
district
was
replaced
and
one
could
seek
health
services
from
anywhere
across
the
country,”
Aboagye
explained.
He
urged
Ghanaians
to
be
cautious
of
the
NDC’s
attempts
to
claim
the
NHIS
policy,
reminding
them
that
the
NDC
had
opposed
the
nationalization
of
the
policy
in
2007.
Aboagye
also
criticized
the
NDC’s
unfulfilled
2008
promise
of
a
one-time
premium
for
NHIS
registration,
noting
that
even
the
NDC’s
current
General
Secretary,
Fifi
Fiavi
Kwetey,
had
described
the
promise
as
unrealistic.
Based
on
this
history,
Aboagye
cautioned
Ghanaians
to
be
sceptical
of
any
promises
from
the
NDC
regarding
the
review
of
the
Free
SHS
policy,
warning
that
the
NDC
might
undermine
the
policy.