Spokesperson for NPP flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Health Committee has recounted how her research into the party’s health sector record ahead of the 2024 elections sparked clashes with her own colleagues.
The medical doctor said her assignment involved gathering and analysing data from the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to document the party’s record in the sector.
Speaking in a personality profile interview on JoyNews’ PM Express with Emefa Adeti, Dr Amoakoh said she was tasked with using her research skills to develop a comprehensive account of the NPP’s performance in health, tracing its record across successive administrations.
“So my first job was to go to the Ministry of Health and collect all their data. Because I came with a skill set, I was given the health sector to do all the research,” she said.
She explained that the exercise covered several areas, including health infrastructure and national health insurance, with the findings intended to support the party’s campaign messaging.
Dr Amoakoh said the work became difficult amid intense political disagreements during the election year, with some of her fellow party members challenging her findings.
“It was very difficult to be an NPP person. My own colleagues were fighting me. And I was like, ‘You people, I don’t understand. I sound like I was in government. I’m here with you people. I’ve just gone there, and you are coming to fight me,’” she recounted.
She said the disagreements became so frequent that she eventually left a group chat in 2024 after exchanges with colleagues grew increasingly heated.
According to her, the tensions arose partly because the information she gathered from official records sometimes contradicted claims being made in political discussions.
Dr Amoakoh attributed the disagreements to the intense propaganda and political contest surrounding the 2024 general election.
She said some colleagues reacted angrily when she presented documents that challenged particular claims, making it difficult to have discussions based on the available evidence.
“That was in the height of propaganda. It was in the height of the election. There was so much propaganda. And you are looking at documents that disprove something someone is saying, right? But they are so angry that they are arguing with you with their heart and soul and mind,” she said.
She acknowledged that she also contributed to the disagreements by refusing to back down from arguments.
“So we can be fighting, and one time I realized that, nah, this is getting too far,” she said.
Dr Amoakoh said her research went beyond the NPP’s time in government, taking in records from the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) era, the administration of former President John Agyekum Kufuor and that of the late President John Evans Atta Mills.
The exercise was intended to help the party assess developments in the health sector over time and build a narrative around its own record.
Dr Amoakoh made the remarks during her personality profile interview on JoyNews’ PM Express with Emefa Adeti.