Kennedy Agyapong’s claim Defence Committee was stopped from visiting Afari Military Hospital project site false — Ex-Deputy Defence Minister
Former Deputy Defence Minister Kofi Amankwa-Manu has dismissed claims by former Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong that members of the Defence and Interior Committee during the previous Parliament, were prevented from visiting the Afari Military Hospital project site.
The clarification comes amid renewed public debate over the stalled 500-bed health facility.
The military hospital project, valued at $180 million, was initiated in March 2014 and was expected to be completed within 42 months.
However, 12 years after work commenced, the facility remains unfinished.
Speaking to the media in Accra on Tuesday, June 16, Kennedy Agyapong criticised the New Patriotic Party administration for failing to work on the project, adding that his committee was even prevented from visiting.
However, speaking in an interview with Accra-based TV3 on Friday, June 19, Mr Amankwa-Manu described the claims as inaccurate and unsupported by records from the Defence Ministry.
“I chaired the project implementation committee at the Defence Ministry and never sighted any request from the Kennedy Agyapong-led committee,” he said.
He explained that standard procedure requires parliamentary committees to formally notify ministries before conducting site visits, adding that no such request was ever received.
“It cannot be true. It simply cannot be true, because if, as a chairman of a committee with oversight responsibility, you want to visit Afari, somebody will prevent you on what basis?” he stated.
Mr Amankwa-Manu further argued that oversight visits had previously been conducted at the site without obstruction, including visits involving other parliamentary committees.
He noted that former Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul had, on one occasion, accompanied a parliamentary committee to the Afari site, suggesting no history of obstruction.
He added that records at both the Ministry of Defence and the parliamentary committee secretariat could easily verify whether any formal request was made.
“I know the Ministry of Defence has records. People can go and check the committee as well, the Secretariat of the Committee on Defence and Interior,” he said.