“WHO IS NEXT TO DIE”

TOPIC: “WHO IS NEXT TO DIE”

MEDIAHOUSE: JOY NEWS

DATE: 17-03-2017

GiftyAndoh Appiah: Thank you very much Sir for your time.

Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong: Thank you and let me say good afternoon to your colleagues and your cherished listeners.

Gifty: I believe that you followed the documentary and what should we expect from the Christian council?

Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong:Gifty, let me first congratulate multimedia, your team and everybody who allowed themselves for these unheard voices to be heard at the moment. The number of Ghanaian mothers and fathers who have gone through this trauma of losing their babies. Yes I followed the next to die program yesterday and your team that moved to Kumasi and I listened to Dr. Apkalu and Dr. Frank Brew and all the conversations we have followed and for us to lose four children in fact when Mamavi and the others asked Dr. Frank Brew that so today have you been to the hospital and how many, the average is four and for us as a country to hear this story is very painful and very uncomfortable, yes we are talking about estimated you’ve given that $70,000,000 but if you are talking about the future of Ghana and Ghanaian children then it seems that one of us not only to congratulate you but identify with the campaign that we need to get Ghanaian women, mothers and their children from the floor and let Ghanaian mothers and children be where they belong to. We will want to identify with the campaign and call upon all our members, individuals and collective congregations and identify themselves with the campaign and not only raising voices but practically supporting the agenda. Of course we are into health delivery and at the moment only referral hospital in the Upper East for instance if only Presbyterian hospital at Bawku despite all that we are doing, this KomfoAnokye issue is an issue that deserve our attention and we pray and hope that all those who are listening to this conversation will come on board for us to answer this question that is confronting all of us.

Gifty:Anywhere you meet the president for instance and you are to give a certain advice about this issue what would you tell him in very few words?

Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong: As long as we are dealing with life Ghanaian mothers and children should not continue what we are witnessing mothers on the floor and babies on the floor of hospital – KomfoAnokye maybe at the other hospitals we do not know and Ghanaian babies that must be in this circumstances how many cost and children so I will wish the President and his team will have their priorities right. However what we have witnessed at KomfoAnokye deserve immediate attention

Gifty: Before I let you go Sir we have heard from some of the politicians in fact the minister of health said that the problem is insufficiency, lack of money and etc and we heard also from the NDC General Secretary saying that well the government has promised to restore Nurses allowances. If you want to do that how about putting all that money together and then finishing this block. Prof. Akosahhas also been speaking about it. Are you impressed with the response that these politicians have given so far and of course we have the first lady speak about it as well what are your impressions?

Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong:Gifty, you see there have been serious calls that if possible health, education and maybe security must be taken out from political games and then have neutral bodies that are not partisan. This is not the time for anybody to score political points; this is not the time. If the four children who die averagely in a day affects any of our political leaders and our politicians, maybe their choice of words and participation in this conversation will be different so let us give this issue from the perspective of those mothers and fathers whose children are the four children who die averagely in a day and you will realize that this is not the time to talk about campaign issues and this is not the time to score points and push blame. This is a problem that confronts us and let us see the parents who are losing the average four children just a day and if you are one of them then you will know that we need to get this problem behind us so yes politicians will always want to call for the numbers and be sure that the society is on their side but I think we can’t play political games with what we have witnessed on who is the next to die video. We can’t play political games with this and so everybody must be on board. Sometimes this is some of the issues that politicians must just take away their political colours and let us see national interest overriding party whatever and then all of us need to solve this problem who did what and who did not do what should not be the issue “who is next to die” and if that child happen to be your child, we must just move faster and save the next child who must die and that child must be protected

Gifty: Thank you very much Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana