NPP & ¢6bn contract scam

Vice President John Mahama (left), Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, former Minister of Finance (right) The Vice President, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, has ordered investigations into the circumstances that led to failure of the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to construct a £3,303.883 housing project to accommodate medical and para-medical staff of the Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital in Sunyani. According to the Vice President, the NPP government, in 2003, initiated a project to develop residential accommodation to house medical and paramedical staff of the regional hospital.

A contract was subsequently awarded to IHG of the UK, to contract 221 housing units at an estimated cost of £3,494,120, which was later revised to £3,303,883.

Mahama revealed that part payment of an amount of £1,750,000 was made by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to IHG, but the project was never undertaken by the contractor.

The Kufuor government also did not make the efforts to recover the money from the foreign contractor.

Vice-President Mahama vowed to get to the bottom of the matter, and also make sure that the money was recovered to execute the project.

His Excellency Vice President John Dramani Mahama disclosed this during the official opening of the Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital in Sunyani last Friday.

The project, which was initiated by the Rawlings’ NDC government, was completed in 2000, but the Kufuor government did not commission it.

The Vice President also commissioned an ICT Centre, and an ultra-modern hostel facility at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Campus in Sunyani, all funded by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).

The inauguration of the three projects also forms part of the activities marking the 50th Anniversary celebration of the creation of the Brong Ahafo Region, by Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

A staff bus was also presented to the Regional Hospital, following a request by the Regional Minister, Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, to President John Evans Atta Mills, on behalf of the hospital.

The 300-bed Regional Hospital in Sunyani was built by Messrs International Hospital Group (IHG) of the UK, to replace the 79-year old hospital, which was then in existence.

The state of the art edifice comprises of 13 specialised units, including eight operating theatres, a radiology department, 3 X-ray units, an automatic processing unit, an image trans-intensifier and ultra-sound scan, among others.

The Vice President said the commissioning of the hospital was a manifestation of the NDC government’s policy to promote and extend free access to good quality and affordable basic primary healthcare delivery services to all Ghanaians.

Mr. John Mahama hinted that the second phase of the programme, to provide modern regional hospitals, would continue with new hospitals in Wa, Bolgatanga and Koforidua.

According to him, the provision of physical structures alone cannot be solely considered as sufficient panacea to solving the health needs of the citizenry.

He noted that putting in place sustainable systems and strategies to mitigate the problems of malnutrition, poor sanitation, unsafe water, poverty, relative high infant and maternal mortality, large inequity in access to quality healthcare delivery, between the urban rich and the rural poor, as well as the perennial shortage of healthcare personnel, must also be addressed.

He stressed the government’s commitment to the implementation of the one-time health insurance premium payment, as a further improvement on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), as well as undertaking necessary reviews in order to streamline the current system which is beset with several challenges, including downright fraud and theft at both the facility level and administration of the scheme.

The Vice President gave the assurance that the government was concerned about the various challenges facing health workers, and would do everything possible to make work and remuneration attractive for health professionals, as a means of motivating them to curb the brain drain in the sector.

He said in view of the fact that rural dwellers form the majority of the population, the NDC government had undertaken to improve access to medical care in the rural areas, through the provision of the appropriate infrastructure.