<p class="isSelectedEnd">Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Bagbin, has formally re-inaugurated the African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters and launched its Endowment Fund, calling for sustainable financing and stronger institutions to ensure that quality healthcare and human rights become lived realities for Ghanaians and Africans.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The Speaker, who personally attended the ceremony held at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra on thursday September 17, also announced a personal donation of GH¢100,000 towards the newly launched Endowment Fund.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The high-profile ceremony marked a significant new chapter for the African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters, an organisation with historical roots in advocacy for the dignity and rights of vulnerable people, including persons affected by HIV/AIDS, prisoners, and individuals fleeing persecution.</p>
<h4>Bagbin: Institutions need sustainable resources to survive</h4>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">Delivering the keynote address, Speaker Bagbin stressed that establishing institutions and developing policies without putting sustainable financing mechanisms in place could undermine their effectiveness.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">He used the analogy of a vehicle that may be mechanically sound but cannot move without fuel to underscore the importance of resources in sustaining institutions.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">According to him, the same principle applies to healthcare and human rights institutions.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">He therefore urged individuals, corporate bodies, development partners, and other well-meaning stakeholders to contribute to the Commission&#8217;s Endowment Fund to enable it to operate sustainably and independently.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The Speaker cautioned against excessive dependence on irregular budgetary allocations, short-term donor grants, or temporary benevolence, arguing that institutions established to serve the public must have the resources necessary to carry out their mandates.</p>
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<p class="isSelectedEnd">“The most important thing is to look at how that is going to sustain. How will that function?”</p>
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<p class="isSelectedEnd">He cited healthcare interventions, including support for dialysis services in the Upper West Region, as an example of why funding must accompany policy decisions and institutional interventions.</p>
<h3>“Quality healthcare must be a daily lived reality”</h3>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">Speaker Bagbin also placed the Commission&#8217;s renewed mandate within the broader question of access to healthcare and human dignity.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">He argued that quality healthcare should not be treated as something people can only aspire to, stressing that Ghanaians and Africans must be able to enjoy quality healthcare during their lifetime.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">He urged the Commission&#8217;s leadership to measure its success not by the grandeur of its re-inauguration but by the number of people who ultimately experience justice, healing, and dignity through its interventions.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">He particularly charged the newly constituted leadership to remain accessible to vulnerable populations, including rural farmers, the urban poor, and marginalized communities.</p>
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<p class="isSelectedEnd">“The success of this commission will not be measured by the beauty of this inauguration,” he stressed, urging the leadership to focus on tangible outcomes for ordinary people.</p>
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<h4>Bagbin formally declares Commission re-inaugurated</h4>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">At the climax of his address, Speaker Bagbin formally declared the African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters duly re-inaugurated and officially launched its Endowment Fund.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">He subsequently announced his personal contribution of GH¢100,000 towards the Fund.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The gesture provided an immediate financial boost to the Commission&#8217;s renewed efforts to build a sustainable platform for health and human rights advocacy across Ghana and the wider African continent.</p>
<h4>Five-member board sworn in</h4>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The ceremony also climaxed with the swearing-in of a five-member Board of the Commission by Speaker Bagbin, formally entrusting the new Board with strategic oversight and leadership responsibilities as the institution begins its renewed mandate.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">In his remarks, Speaker Bagbin thanked the newly appointed Board members and the Commission&#8217;s leadership for accepting what he described as a “heavy” but noble responsibility.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">He urged the Board to be bold in defending the voices of vulnerable people and to ensure that its interventions are objective, evidence-driven, and accessible.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The Speaker also encouraged the Board to keep the needs of ordinary citizens at the center of its work.</p>
<h4>Commission sets out three strategic pillars</h4>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The re-inauguration and Endowment Fund launch also saw the Commission outline three major strategic pillars that will guide its renewed operations.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">According to Chief Executive Officer Bishop Louis Christian Godson, these are advocacy and education, accountability and redress, and policy integration.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">Under advocacy and education, the Commission intends to intensify public sensitisation on patients&#8217; rights and engage communities and healthcare providers on health-related human rights.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">On accountability and redress, the Commission plans to provide platforms through which citizens can report violations, monitor alleged negligence at health facilities, and raise concerns about environmental pollution and other threats to human health.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The Commission also intends to engage Parliament, ministries of health, and relevant agencies on policies relating to healthcare access, mental health financing, the National Health Insurance Scheme, and environmental health.</p>
<h4>Endowment Fund targets long-term sustainability</h4>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">Bishop Godson said the Endowment Fund was established to provide the financial backbone required to sustain the Commission&#8217;s work.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">He outlined an ambition of raising US$10 billion within five years, describing the Fund as critical to supporting research, legal aid, environmental testing, monitoring, and other interventions.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">He argued that meaningful advocacy requires research, justice requires legal support, while environmental protection requires appropriate monitoring equipment and facilities.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The CEO also identified environmental lawlessness, including concerns surrounding illegal mining, as an issue with direct implications for public health and human rights.</p>
<h4>A renewed chapter for health and human rights</h4>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The founder of the Commission, Naa Professor Edmund Nminyem Delle<strong>,</strong> recounted the organisation&#8217;s historical roots in human rights advocacy, including its work during the HIV/AIDS era and its efforts to protect people who faced discrimination, persecution, and other forms of abuse.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">He recalled how the Commission had previously provided support and refuge to people fleeing persecution, including journalists, and had undertaken interventions involving prisoners and vulnerable communities.</p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd">The renewed Commission is expected to build on that history while adopting a broader contemporary focus on health, human rights, accountability, public education, and policy advocacy.</p>
<p>With the re-inauguration by Speaker Bagbin, the launch of the Endowment Fund and the swearing-in of the five-member Board, the Commission now enters a new phase aimed at strengthening the connection between health, human dignity, justice, and sustainable development in Ghana and across Africa.</p>