President Akufo-Addo, as part of his tour of the Ashanti Region, is scheduled to finally commission the 120-bed Kumawu and Fomena District Hospitals that were initiated by the visionary nation-builder, H.E John Dramani Mahama.
These two hospitals, which started in 2015 and were expected to be completed in 2017, are among President Mahama’s towering legacy projects in the Ashanti Region.
These projects were part of a $175 Million loan facility sourced by the Mahama administration from Barclays Bank Plc, London and guaranteed by UK export Finance (UKEF) to construct five District hospitals in Kumawu, Abetifi, Fomena, Garu and Shai Osudoku).
These projects aligned with President Mahama’s vision for Ghana’s health sector and avowed commitment to attaining goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG’s) relative to Universal Health coverage for all persons.
Two of these hospitals were specially sited in the Ashanti Region by President Mahama to ease the Pressure on the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, which is the only referral facility serving Northern belt and people from the Sahelian regions. More importantly, these facilities were to help bring quality healthcare to the doorsteps of the people in the Sekyere and Adansi areas of the Ashanti Region.
Upon assuming office in 2017, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government halted the disbursement of $38.8 million required for the completion of these hospitals under a farcical claim of conducting forensic audit into the utilization of earlier disbursed funds to determine whether the project should continue.
This singular act of recklessness on the part of the Akufo Addo/Bawumia NPP government has caused undue delay to the completion of these projects, leading to the state incurring additional cost.
It is however refreshing to note that after eight years of delay and having failed the people of the Ashanti Region, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government has finally decided to commission these two projects.
One would have thought that in the dying embers of their misrule, this government will be honest with Ghanaians and admit that it has disappointed the Ashanti Region, which is their stronghold. However, as is their stock in trade, the deceitful and failed Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government is once again seeking to hoodwink the people of Ashanti Region by attempting to reap where it has not sown. Once, President Akufo-Addo is shamelessly going to commission yet another John Mahama legacy project in Ashanti Region without inviting even President Mahama, who is the brain behind these projects. This is an act of shameless desperation that history will not be kind to.
It is our hope and expectation that these two hospitals have been truly completed, fitted with the required equipment, and ready to be commissioned according to the original project specifications. The people of Ashanti Region will not accept another trojan and deceptive commissioning just to hoodwink the people as elections approach, as we recently witnessed in the case of the John Mahama Kumasi International Airport.
Notice is hereby served that the people of Ashanti will not sit aloof and watch these projects to be abandoned again after commissioning. We demand that the two hospitals be fitted with the necessary medical equipment to provide quality and accessible healthcare to the people of the Ashanti Region.
SIGNED
Abass Nurudeen,Esq.
(Regional Communication Officer)
