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The District Manager of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in North Dayi, Mr Edem Sebastian, has refuted media reports alleging that the area’s Member of Parliament, Hon. Joycelyn Tetteh Quashie, is sabotaging President John Dramani Mahama’s flagship Free Primary Healthcare Initiative through a rebranded programme of her own.
Describing the reports as “regrettable, false, and misleading,” Mr Sebastian said they were clearly intended to create unnecessary friction between the MP and the president.
“Those reports are completely misleading and should be ignored,” he stated. “Rather than sabotaging anyone, the MP has been our strongest supporter in our ongoing drive to register more residents onto the NHIS.”
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Speaking to journalists, Mr Sebastian accused unnamed individuals behind the publication of trying to derail the NHIA’s mass registration exercise, which has so far benefited significantly from the MP’s sponsorship and collaboration.
According to him, Hon. Tetteh’s initiative — ‘Free Health Insurance Renewal and Registration Exercise’ — is a personal intervention to assist her constituents and has nothing to do with the yet-to-be-implemented Free Primary Healthcare Agenda under President Mahama.
He explained that the district office had earlier appealed to local stakeholders for support in meeting its annual registration target of 80% of the over 41,000 residents in North Dayi. Out of those, only about 40% qualify for free registration as indigenes, while the rest must pay to enrol—a challenge that has slowed progress.
“The MP’s intervention came at a critical time when many residents were unable to pay their premiums, which was affecting our targets,” Mr Sebastian said. “She volunteered to fund free registration and renewal for her people, and this is not the first time she has done so.”
He revealed that before the creation of the North Dayi NHIA office, the MP had already collaborated with the Kpando NHIA to register hundreds of residents at her own expense.
The NHIA District Manager said he was “shocked” by attempts to twist the MP’s goodwill into a political scandal. He singled out The Campaigner newspaper, which first published the report, for failing to quote any sources or provide credible evidence.
“The newspaper didn’t attribute the allegation to anyone. That alone shows the story was fabricated,” he asserted. “We have not received any directive to register everyone for free, so the claim that the MP is rebranding a presidential initiative is baseless.”
Mr Sebastian further suggested that the controversy might have been fuelled by internal political rivalry, warning against dragging state institutions into partisan disputes.
“I suspect this is an internal party issue,” he noted. “We are a state institution and must not be drawn into any political squabbles that could derail our work.”
He concluded by acknowledging the MP’s continued support, adding that no other stakeholder had responded positively to the NHIA’s call for assistance.
“The MP has been the only one to stand with us in this effort,” he said. “It’s unfair to malign her for simply helping her people.”
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