Agenda 111 should not be abandoned because of change in government - Dr Nsiah-Asare

Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare defended the Akufo-Addo administration's Agenda 111 hospital projects, insisting the initiative was strategically planned and should not be abandoned by the current government. Speaking on the Joy Super Morning Show, Dr. Nsiah-Asare explained that the government intended to finance the hospitals gradually, using revenue from oil proceeds and other revenue streams. He said, "You can propose projects based on expected revenue. When you look at the budget and how much oil revenue was expected to come in, it was clear the projects would be completed in phases."

Dr. Nsiah-Asare noted that the previous administration adopted a phased approach because it did not have sufficient funds to complete all the hospitals at once. He revealed that many of the hospital projects had reached advanced stages of completion before the New Patriotic Party government left office, stating that "Most of the hospitals had reached between 80 and 90 per cent completion. Three of them were commissioned before we left office." He cited land acquisition challenges as one of the major setbacks that delayed work on some projects, particularly in parts of Greater Accra, and added that some contractors had pre-financed portions of the work with the expectation of reimbursement from the government. He said, "When we were leaving office, there were certificates worth about 100 million dollars waiting to be paid from the oil-backed funding arrangement."

Dr. Nsiah-Asare questioned why the current administration had not used available resources to complete the projects after nearly 17 months in office. He also criticised suggestions that private entities or state-owned enterprises should take over the operation of the hospitals, insisting healthcare delivery remains the responsibility of government. He said, "The health of the people is the responsibility of every serious government."