The Ashanti Regional Manager of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) says he needs incessant prayers from residents of the region, to be able to discharge his responsibilities satisfactorily.
Wofa Yamoah Afrifa Ponkoh disclosed that God’s intervention through prayers is the only key that can assist him to address the problems he has inherited. The former aide at the office of the first lady Mrs. Ernestina Naadu Mills told Fox FM in an interview that the problems he has to deal with far outweigh what he anticipated before assuming office.
The NHIS Regional Manager, who was recently embroiled in an HIV/AIDS scandal, mentioned that maladministration and financial malfeasance are the immediate problems he has to tackle head-on. Wofa Yamoah Ponkoh noted that the NHIS is at risk, if prudent measures are not put in place to deal decisively with maladministration and widespread corruption. Against this background, the former Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Kwaebibrem Football Club official promised to work diligently towards bringing sanity to the operations of all the 24 scheme centers in the region.
Emphasizing that he cannot achieve this feat without the collaborative efforts of District and Municipal Chief Executives (D/MCE’s), the National Democratic Congress leading member entreated D/MCE’s in the region to pay particular attention to the operations of their respective areas. “I can’t achieve this feat without the assistance of D/MCEs, because they are the political heads who have direct supervisory roles over the operations of the scheme in their respective areas”, Wofa Yamoah Ponkoh stressed.
In view of this, he heaped praises on the MCE of Mampong for ordering the interdiction of three officials of the Mampong mutual health scheme, on allegations of financial malfeasance running into thousands of Ghana Cedis.
The former Communications Director of the Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD), a Kumasi-based political party, pointed out that if all the D/MCE’s in the region were to emulate the action of the Mampong MCE, his daunting task could be lessened. Wofa Yamoah Ponkoh stressed that though the problems at his doorstep are enormous, he is least perturbed because he is bigger and mightier than the problems. It would be recollected that a certain Mariam Owusu, a 27-year-old trader, recently accused the NHIS Regional Manager of infecting her with the HIV 1 virus.
Reacting to the story when it broke, Wofa Yamoah Ponkoh said the allegation was peddled by his detractors, who were not enthused about his new position.He therefore declared on radio recently that he would undergo an open HIV/AIDS test at an accredited hospital, for the public to know his negative status.
