Coronavirus: It’s illogical to say BoG Hospital is not Mahama’s legacy – Manasseh replies Baako

Famed investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has argued that it is illogical to attribute the failures or lapses of the Bank of Ghana while former President John Mahama was President and fail to credit him for the successes of the bank to him.

His comment comes in the wake of an argument by journalist Kweku Baako to effect that the erstwhile government John Mahama had nothing to do with the building of the Bank of Ghana Hospital, which has become pivotal in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Supporters of former President Mahama had argued that Mr Mahama deserved credit for building the Bank of Ghana Hospital which has now been designated a treatment centre for COVID-19 patients even as the Government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo continues to draw praise for its measures to contain the virus.

But supporters of the current administration, who had blamed the John Mahama government for the lapses of the Bank of Ghana, have pointed to the functional autonomy of the Bank in the construction of the hospital.

But Mr Azure wrote: “You insist that John Mahama is responsible for the Bank of Ghana regulatory lapses that led to the banking crisis. But you argue that the same John Mahama cannot be credited with the Bank of Ghana Hospital built under his tenure because the Bank of Ghana is an independent institution. This is not only an illogical argument, but also a serious affront to good conscience.”

There continues to be a debate between leading members of the opposition National Democratic Congress and Kweku Baako and supporters of the current administration on whether or not the hospital is John Mahama’s legacy.