Kwakye Ofosu Dismisses Health Minister’s 'Excuses' For Stalled Mahama Health Projects

A former Deputy Communications Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has dismissed Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu’s explanations for some stalled health projects started under the former administration.

Mr. Manu at a press briefing on April 28, 2020, had explained that some projects were abandoned even before the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government assumed office due to former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper’s refusal to renew Letters of Credit for contractors to access funds to continue with the projects.

“As early as first quarter 2017, I wrote a letter to the Finance Minister to actually renew the expired Letter of Credit (LC) to enable the contractor to have access to funding to work on the project. The previous government for some reason refused to renew the LC to enable the contractor access funding as far back as July 2016 so the projects were abandoned before we assumed office. The only one out of the four that has been completed and in use is at Dodowa. Others are at various stages of completion,” the minister explained.

Mr. Kwakye Ofosu in an interview on Eyewitness News, however, rubbished this claim saying these projects had stalled because the government launched an “unnecessary” budget into the award of some government contracts.

“The Minister said work has stalled on the remainder because the Letters of Credit were not renewed in July 2016. I can tell you that is not the reason why the hospital has stalled. The real reason that project has stalled is that they launched a very unnecessary budget into the award of government contract which took almost two years.”

“At the end of two years, nothing concrete came out out of it. As I speak to you, they are engaged in a back and forth with the contractor over the learning scope of work and that has caused the project to delay. It is not the non-issuance of an LC. The Minister’s excuses are no more tenable.”

Scepticism over 88 hospitals

Mr. Kwakye also shared his thoughts on government’s decision to construct hospitals in 88 districts, saying the move had been met with intense scepticism due to the “President’s own abysmal record in completion of hospitals.”

“The real reason we are having this discussion is that the Akufo Addo government can easily be unwilling to either operationalise or complete projects that he inherited. President Nana Akufo-Addo has not demonstrated that he has the capacity to make any significant investment in the health sector and even when they are presented with an opportunity to open up completed projects they have failed and left Ghanaians in dire need,” Mr. Kwakye Ofosu added.

---citinewsroom