The True Owner of Tamale Teaching Hospital Project

I spent some time listening to some government and NDC communicators especially in the Northern region as they pride themselves over the rehabilitation of the Tamale Teaching Hospital. I thought they were doing their usual party propaganda until I heard the president H.E. John Dramani Mahama at the 8th delegates' conference of the NDC in Kumasi. The president was very quick to mention the ongoing project at the Tamale Teaching Hospital as one of the flagship projects by NDC government in the northern region. This could equally be seen as 'a selective myopic' as the president enjoys this expression.

It is a fact that multi-party democracy strives when there is continuity of good projects and policies. But it is equally a moral duty to recognise the sweat of warlords who bring you booty. The president and the NDC may be out of jealousy had refused to acknowledge the efforts made by their predecessors in initiating the worthy projects across the country. The Tamale Teaching Hospital had seen no renovation 33 years after it was constructed. However, through the hard work and determination by the NPP government under president Kufour, funding was sourced for the upgrading of the Tamale Teaching Hospital. In January, 2007 president Kufour signed an agreement with the Dutch Embassy for the extension, modernization and rehabilitation of existing structures at the hospital. The cost of the project stood at 75 million Euros. The Dutch Government was to provide 53 per cent while Ghana Government took up 22 per cent as counterpart funding.

Interestingly, the project was in two folds and the first phase has just ended at a cost of 50 million Euros while the second phase will cost 25 million Euros. So, for the president and the NDC to present it as if the upgrading of Tamale Teaching Hospital is their initiative is a smack on political objectivity. One can say without missing words that the NDC government under president Mahama has no project in northern region even as they await the end of their second term.

Sadly, all senior high schools in the northern region under president Mahama and the NDC are denied glorious opportunities under the Secondary Schools Improvement Project funded by the World Bank. The president and all northern politicians must be interested in this unhealthy development. It high time the government communicators and NDC reps on political discussions stopped taking credit for what they have not labored for. The good people in the north are only grateful that the funds were not diverted as we saw the NDC government did to other projects.

Zuberu Aliu
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