Ken Agyapong, the former Member of Parliament for Assin Central, has slammed the NPP minority over their constant attacks on the Mahama government concerning the Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region.
The former MP openly criticised successive administrations, including the NPP government under which he served as Chairman of Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, for the prolonged delay in making the Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region fully operational.
Speaking to the media after donating a pickup truck and 15 motorcycles to the Ghana Police Service at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters, Ken Agyapong stated, “Has Afari Hospital been there for 15 months? NDC started it. We were there for 8 years; we didn’t do it. We are not doing politics, I am speaking the truth this Ghana.
We will criticise NDC and also do the same for the NPP; that is the only way to grow.
This hospital was started by President John Agyekum Kufuor. The locations and all those things. NDC came to start it, and when we came, I was NPP, and I am telling you the gospel truth. I was the chairman for Defence and Interior, and we didn’t do anything.
When we decided to go and inspect Afari, they stopped us. I heard somebody saying the Afari Hospital has been there for 15 months, but we were there for eight years and didn’t do it”, he added.
His comments follow the minority in parliament, who have blamed the NDC for delays in the Afari Military Hospital project.
Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, Kofi Amankwa-Manu, argued that the delays in the project were largely the result of decisions taken by the NDC after they won power in 2008.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament, Kofi Amankwa-Manu stated, “It is rich for the current government to accuse others of ‘sleeping’ on the project. The Afari Hospital story is a testament to NDC mismanagement”.
Originally contracted in 2008 under President J.A. Kufuor for Sofoline, Kumasi, the project was derailed when the NDC assumed office in 2009. They inexplicably relocated it to Tamale, then to Accra, and finally to Afari. This political manoeuvring caused a six-year delay, resulting in the contractor claiming an additional US$36 million, which was eventually negotiated down to US$19.3 million,” he alleged.
“Let the record show that as of December 2016, when the NDC left office, the project was only 40 per cent complete. After eight years in power, and despite commencing physical construction in 2014, the NDC could only deliver 40 per cent,” he said.
“It was the NPP administration that took this project from 40 per cent to 98 per cent by January 2025. The question Ghanaians must ask is: who really slept on this project?” he questioned.
Also, the minority rejected a proposed US$85 million claim linked to the completion of the Afari Military Hospital project.
They disclosed that the government must immediately abandon this unjustified US$85 million claim, pay the outstanding US$500,000 and ensure the contractor completes the remaining 2 per cent of the work.
He added, “We will fiercely resist this scheme. We demand value for money and will protect the public purse. The government must immediately abandon this unjustified US$85 million claim, pay the outstanding US$500,000 and ensure the contractor completes the remaining 2 per cent of the work without further delay”.
“Any attempt to use the back door to pay this newly generated and unjustified amount of US$85 million can only be described by the popular Ghanaian phrase: ‘Create, Loot and Share’,” he alleged.
“We all want the Afari Military Hospital completed and operationalised to serve the healthcare needs of the Ghana Armed Forces and the people of the Ashanti Region. However, this must not become a conduit for daylight robbery,” he said.
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@ghnow_ Ken Agyapong, the former Member of Parliament for Assin Central, has slammed the NPP minority over their constant attacks on the Mahama government concerning the Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region. The former MP openly criticised successive administrations, including the NPP government under which he served as Chairman of Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, for the prolonged delay in making the Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region fully operational. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
