Trainees at Koforidua Nursing and Midwifery Training College are appealing to the government to pay the nine (9) months arrears of the trainee allowance.
According to the trainees, delay in payment of the allowance is seriously affecting them.
For some, they use the allowance as a top-up to pay their fees and buy books hence the delay is having a debilitating effect.
Recently, the trainees express similar sentiment when the Member of Parliament for Assin Central Kennedy Agyapong engaged the youth in Koforidua.
The Nursing and teacher trainee allowance was restored by the NPP government as part of campaign promises in 2016 after it was canceled by the John Mahama-led administration.
However, the NPP government is struggling to pay the allowance hence always in arrears.
The financial burden of the teacher and nursing trainees allowance has triggered calls by a financial analyst for government to cancel the payment of the allowance again considering the current economic challenges Ghana finds itself due to multiple factors including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data from the 2022-2025 budget preparation guideline document pegs the total allocation for both teacher and nursing trainee allowances for 2022 at ¢401.1 million. Of this amount, the nursing trainee allowance (¢231.2) for the period represents 57.6 percent while the teacher trainee allowance (¢169.9 million) represents 42.4 percent of the total projected allocation of ¢401.1 million.
