The District Manager of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in North Dayi, Mr. Edem Sebastian, has described as regrettable and unfortunate media reports suggesting that the Member of Parliament for the area, Joycelyn Tetteh Quashie, is sabotaging President John Dramani Mahama through a rebranded health initiative.
Mr. Sebastian vehemently rejected the claims, insisting that the reports were false and intended to create unnecessary tension between the MP and the president.
“Those reports are completely misleading and should be ignored,” he said.
“Rather than sabotaging anyone, the MP has been our strongest supporter in our ongoing drive to register more residents onto the NHIS.”
Speaking to journalists, the NHIA District Manager accused the faceless authors of the allegations of attempting to undermine the Authority’s mass registration exercise, which has benefited significantly from the MP’s sponsorship and collaboration.
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According to him, Hon. Joycelyn Quashie’s initiative dubbed, “Free Health Insurance Renewal and Registration Exercise”, is a personal intervention aimed at supporting her constituents, and is distinct from President Mahama’s Free Primary Healthcare Agenda, which is yet to be implemented in the district.
Mr. Sebastian explained that, following an appeal from the district NHIA office to stakeholders for assistance in meeting its annual target, the MP was the only one who responded positively.
“We started operations in July this year and are expected to register about 80 percent of the over 41,000 residents in the district,” he noted.
“However, only a limited category of persons, referred to as indigenes, qualify for free registration, and that represents less than 40 percent of the population. The rest must pay before being enrolled, which has made meeting our target difficult.”
He added that the MP’s intervention came at a critical time when residents were reluctant or unable to pay for registration, threatening the Authority’s performance indicators.
“Hon. Joycelyn Quashie offered to sponsor free registration and renewal for her constituents. This is not the first time she has done so,” Mr. Sebastian revealed. “Even before our district office was created, she collaborated with the Kpando NHIA to register her people and personally paid for it.”
The NHIA boss said he was shocked that the MP’s goodwill gesture had been “twisted” in the media to tarnish her reputation. He singled out The Campaigner newspaper, which first published the story, for failing to cite credible sources or provide verifiable evidence.
“The newspaper didn’t attribute the allegation to anyone. That alone shows the story was fabricated,” he stressed. “We have not received any directive from anywhere to register everyone for free, so the claim that the MP is rebranding a presidential initiative is baseless.”
Mr. Sebastian suggested that the publication might have been motivated by internal political rivalry, warning against dragging the NHIA into partisan disputes.
“I suspect this is an internal party issue,” he fumed. “We are a state institution and must not be drawn into any political squabbles that could derail our work.”
He reiterated that aside from the MP, none of the other stakeholders approached by the NHIA offered any assistance toward the registration exercise.
