Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah
Government has asked persons deliberately pushing political angst against its much-touted Agenda 111 hospital project without basis to desist from such acts.
Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah who addressed journalists at the Minister’s Press Briefing in Accra on Sunday September 5, 2021, said though government has taken note of genuine wishes from various actors including health-based CSOs, media and the public in raising risk factors that should be attended to for the agenda to succeed and benefit all Ghanaians, persons who do so with parochial partisan interests are rather jeopardizing the construction of the hospitals.
He said: “we notice deliberate politically motivated claims of impropriety being cooked up against the Agenda 111 project. This includes a claim by MP for North Dayi that the projects were illegally awarded, and the contract prices inflated. Another is the claim that already 600m cedis has been spent when no work has been done.
“Government assures the public that all contracts associated with the project were legally granted in accordance with approvals from the Public Procurement Authority. Additionally, in terms of costs, the cost of the district hospital under agenda 111 is about 17m USD. This is about 50% the cost of similar projects under the previous administration which cost between 25m and 35m USD,” he added.
It will be recalled that President Akufo-Addo observed the commencement of works on Tuesday 17th August 2021 at Trede in the Ashanti Region. Post the commencement of the project, some political actors particularly in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have alleged that the cost of construction has been inflated referencing the discrepancy in commencement fees as stated by government vis-à-vis the amount captured in the mid-year budget statement.
However, responding to the claim, the Minister debunked the assertion and described it as “totally untrue and politically trumped-up”.
He explained that the $100 million is the same as the GHS600 million commencement funding which has been made available to the 217 contractors handling this phase of the project.
This the Minister encouraged a healthy public conversation on the project but strongly discourage any attempt to undermine it with the hope of making partisan political gains.