President John Dramani Mahama has justified Ghana’s decision to reject a proposed health compact from the United States, describing some of the conditions attached to the agreement as humiliating and an affront to the country’s sovereignty.
The United States had reportedly offered more than $100 million to support Ghana’s health sector under a compact intended to replace previous US aid funding.
However, President Mahama said the government rejected the proposal after the Ministry of Health reviewed the terms and presented its concerns to Cabinet.
Speaking at an engagement with the Council on Foreign Relations on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, the President said the compact contained provisions Ghana could not accept as a sovereign country.
He said one of the conditions required Ghana to provide the United States with its pathogen profile, detailing diseases and pathogens endemic to the country.
The agreement also required access to the medical records of Ghanaians, a condition President Mahama questioned.
He further said the proposed compact required Ghana to contribute a certain amount of money to the programme while limiting the authority of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to inspect medicines and other medical products brought into the country.
President Mahama said the conditions were unacceptable and were rejected by Cabinet after what he described as a swift review.
“I mean, it was humiliating. And so it was the compact that was thrown out in record time in our Cabinet,” he said.
He said the government subsequently instructed the Health Minister to inform the US Ambassador that Ghana would not proceed with the agreement.
President Mahama maintained that Ghana was prepared to manage its health sector without accepting conditions it considered inconsistent with the country’s sovereignty.
“And so we said, no, we don’t want it. And we’re doing fine,” he added.
