It has come to our attention that the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Simon Osei Mensah, is making efforts to commission the uncompleted 250-bed Ashanti Regional Hospital at Sawua, despite overwhelming evidence that the project is far from completion.
This blatant act of deception is a desperate attempt to mask the inefficiencies of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led NPP government, which has failed to complete any of the significant health infrastructure projects inherited from the visionary Mahama/Amissah-Arthur administration in the Ashanti Region.
It is worth recalling that this hospital project was initiated under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama, who performed the sod-cutting ceremony in 2015. The project was originally scheduled for completion within 20 months. However, it is regrettable that, despite being at an advanced stage of completion when President Mahama left office in 2016, the project was left to deteriorate under the NPP government for nearly eight years, with no meaningful progress made.
Shockingly, just three days before their exit, the Ashanti Regional Minister has announced plans to commission this uncompleted hospital. This move is a disingenuous effort to create a false impression of having completed all inherited health projects in the region.
The people of the Ashanti Region deserve answers to several pressing questions:
*1. Why did President Akufo-Addo, during his commissioning spree in the Ashanti Region a month before the elections, not commission the 250-bed Ashanti Regional Hospital if it was indeed ready for use?*
*2. Why is President Akufo-Addo delegating the commissioning of a supposedly completed 250-bed regional hospital to the Ashanti Regional Minister, while he personally commissions a much smaller 40-bed district hospital in Sabronum?*
These questions expose the deceit and lack of commitment that have characterized the NPP government’s approach to critical health infrastructure in the Ashanti Region.
It is abundantly clear that the NPP, and particularly the Ashanti Regional Minister, have not learned any lessons from their humiliating electoral defeat in the just-ended elections. Their penchant for engaging in acts of dishonesty and tokenism continues to undermine their credibility and trustworthiness.
We urge the good people of the Ashanti Region to disregard the planned commissioning of the uncompleted Ashanti Regional Hospital at Sawua. This shameful act is nothing more than a sham and an insult to the intelligence of the region’s residents. The health and well-being of Ghanaians must never be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency.
Signed:
Abass Nurudeen,Esq.
ARCO
