Member of the communications team of the NDC, Elikem Kotoko
Member of the communications team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Elikem Kotoko, has described the government’s Agenda 111 initiative as nothing short of a public relations rhetoric to appease the angry citizens of the country.
He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s Agenda 111 to build hospitals across the country within 18 months is just a populist tactic to make the country feel that there is the urgency to construct 111 hospitals because of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Mr. Kotoko questioned what happened to the President’s earlier promise in his 8th COVID-19 address in April 2020 to the nation that he was going to construct 88 hospitals across the country which the country has not seen even one yet?
He also pointed out that there is no clear communication to the country as to where the funding for the ambitious initiative is coming from and the fact that the initiative is directly under the auspices of the office of the President.
Mr. Kotoko questioned the motive of the Presidency in awarding contracts to build the so-called 111 hospitals across the country.
He said Agenda 111 did not need all the pomp and pageantry associated with the sod-cutting ceremony for a project that its source of funds is not clear.
Mr. Kotoko pointed out that the promise to construct 111 hospitals across the country is synonymous with the President’s promise to his God to build a cathedral for him should he become President but today the same person is begging Ghanaians for money to build the cathedral he promised his God.
He said this in an interview with Berla Mundi on the New Day show on TV3, Thursday, August 19.
Mr. Kotoko was commenting on the backdrop of the sod-cutting ceremony for the Agenda 111 initiative by the President on Tuesday, August 17 in the Ashanti Region.
“A 100 million seed capital and you think that is adequate enough for it to take flight? Why shouldn’t we be convinced that this is one of those PR rhetorics because the President not long ago, sometime this year or last year promised us 88 hospitals and all that, how many has he achieved?”, he quizzed on the New Day.
He added “you see when the President becomes populist, these are the things that you see. He was telling us that a year ago during the pandemic it makes us feel that there is some urgency and the need to build 88 hospitals immediately to resolve the Covid-19 pandemic.
A year on we are now being told that we are going to build 111 and where is the funding coming from, there is no clarity on it. And have you seen what they have done? It falls under the Presidency itself, how is the Presidency awarding contracts and all that?”.