Sarkodie thanks Mahama after Ghana turns down US health compact

Pinned summary · as of 05:20

Ghana will not sign the health compact that Washington proposed, President John Dramani Mahama has said, and rapper Sarkodie has publicly thanked him for the decision. Mr Mahama described the terms as humiliating, while Sarkodie used a post on X to call for more respect for Ghana from Western countries.

What we know

• President John Dramani Mahama said Ghana chose not to accept the health compact offered by the United States, describing its terms as humiliating.
• Mr Mahama said the document went before Cabinet, which objected to a number of its provisions and set it aside.
• According to the president, the agreement would have obliged Ghana to share its pathogen profile and the medical records of its citizens, and to put up matching money for healthcare.
• Mr Mahama also said the text would have stripped the Food and Drugs Authority of any power to inspect medicines or medical products entering the country.
• Sarkodie thanked the president on X for turning down the compact and said Ghana deserved better. "Hopefully one day we gain back the full respect deserved," the rapper wrote.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  The Vaultz News reported that Mr Mahama said Cabinet rejected the compact faster than any other paper he had seen there; no other report carries that remark.
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  The Vaultz News said Sarkodie's post, which included a video, gathered thousands of likes, reposts and replies and hundreds of thousands of views within a short time; these figures have not been confirmed elsewhere.
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  Some social media users, according to The Vaultz News, pointed to Sarkodie's past ties with the New Patriotic Party and questioned whether his position was consistent. One commenter called him an NPP artist, and another accused the party of being a criminal cartel whose leader would have taken the deal for money. These are opinions from unnamed commenters, not established facts.
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  The Vaultz News also reported that some commenters were relieved that Ghana kept its health data and regulatory oversight, while others wondered whether the decision could affect later health funding cooperation with the United States after the earlier withdrawal of some USAID support.

Why it matters for Ghana

The compact touched on who controls Ghanaians' medical records and which body checks the medicines sold in pharmacies and hospitals in Accra, Kumasi and beyond. Mr Mahama's account suggests the Food and Drugs Authority's inspection role was at stake. Some commenters have raised the question of future health funding from the United States, though no official has said what the refusal means for it.