The Ministry of Health has been allocated GHC7.4 million by the government to facilitate the release of detained goods from the Global Fund at the Tema port. This information was communicated in an official statement by the Ministry’s Public Relations Officer on Thursday, June 13, 2024. This development occurred shortly after the Minority Members in Parliament issued a 24-hour deadline to the government demanding the prompt clearance of the goods that have been stranded at the port for over a year.
The medical supplies in question were generously donated to Ghana by the Global Fund for Community Foundation at no cost. However, the process of clearing these vital commodities has been prolonged for more than a year due to delays on the part of Ghana’s government and the Ministry of Health. The government is solely responsible for covering the taxes, levies, and port charges amounting to US$3.6 million required for the clearance of the goods.
After facing mounting pressure for several months to expedite the clearance process, the Ministry of Health officially announced “The Ministry of Health is pleased to announce it has received funds for clearance of locked-up Global Fund commodities currently held at the port, including TB medication.” The Ministry disclosed that it has taken delivery of a total of 283 containers of “various commodities” from the Global Fund through the Tema port.
With the financial backing from the government now secured, the Health Ministry has committed to completing the clearance of the remaining containers by the end of June 2024. “The Ministry of Health has now received an amount of GHC7,429,694.39 from the Ministry of Finance for the payment demurrage for the clearance of all Global Fund outstanding containers at the Tema Port,” the statement declared.
