Sammy Gyamfi outlines why NPP has no hand in Upper West Hospital

The Director of Communications for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, says it is never true that the Upper West Regional Hospital was started by the John Agyekum Kufour administration and completed by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He says what the Kufour-led administration did was conceptualize the idea of building a regional hospital for the people of the Upper West Region.

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However, a chunk of the work was done by the Mills-Mahama administration which took over from the Kufour-led administration.

To him, the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government did nothing to see the hospital brought to life and should not be credited for that.

Read His Statement Below

I have seen some desperate NPP propagandists share a video of the Upper West Regional Hospital, with the claim that it was started by Former President Kufour and completed by President Akufo-Addo.

Although the history of the Upper West Regional Hospital is well-known and a matter of public record, it is important to set the records straight so that unsuspecting Ghanaians are not hoodwinked by this dubious propaganda.

1. The 160-bed Upper West Regional Hospital project was one of the nine (9) hospitals which were awarded to Euroget De Invest in the year 2010 by the Government of Ghana.
2. The project was conceptualized and initiated by the Kufour government as part of what is called “The Hospitals Project”. Euroget De Invest was engaged by the Government of Ghana to design and build 8 hospitals for the Ministry of Health and 1 hospital for the Ministry of Defense.
3. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Government of Ghana and Euroget De Invest for the nine (9) hospital projects in April 2008.
4. Cabinet gave approval for the Euroget hospital projects on 29th October 2008.
5. On 12th November, 2008, the Parliament of Ghana approved the loan for the Euroget hospital projects, an amount of $339 million dollars which was to be sourced from Egypt. The Kufour government was then voted out of office. See https://modernghana.com/news/190440/government-presents-2009-financial-estimates.html
6. The contracts for the projects were signed between the Mills government and Euroget in 2010.
7. On 31st July, 2010, then Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E John Dramani Mahama cut the sod for the Upper West Regional Hospital.
8. However, construction of the project could not commence due to the inability of the company, Euroget De Invest to secure funding from Egypt. This undue delay was mainly occasioned by the Arab spring upheaval in Egypt. Thus, the Upper West regional hospital could not start on schedule due to lack of funds. See https://modernghana.com/news/286954/160-bed-hospital-for-u-w.html
9. Through the hard work of the Mills/Mahama government, approval was given to Euroget De Invest and funding was secured from a Barclays PLC- ABSA SA consortium to finance the project in August 2012. See https://ghanabusinessnews.com/2012/08/24/barclays-absa-consortium-gets-approval-to-finance-ghana-hospitals/
10. In November 2012, just before the elections, then running mate to Akufo-Addo, Alhaji Bawumia visited the project site with the media and mocked John Mahama and the NDC for deceiving the people of Upper West region. See https://peacefmonline.com/pages/politics/politics/201210/142153.php
11. Actual construction began in 2014 under the Mahama/NDC government with funding from the Barclays-ABSA bank consortium. By the time John Mahama was leaving office, the project was about 95%.

These facts are verifiable and indisputable.

13. It is true that the project has its roots in the Kufour government. It was in 2008, that the MoU and original loan agreement was signed and approved. However, the funding arrangement envisaged under the Kufour government didn’t materialize. The contracts were signed and the sod cut for the project by the Mills/Mahama government. More importantly, Funding was secured in August 2012 under the Mills/Mahama government. Construction began in 2014 under the Mahama government and was over 95% complete in 2016 before John Mahama left office.
14. The Upper West Regional hospital project should have been fully completed and commissioned latest by 2017 but was unduly delayed by President Akufo-Addo and commissioned in 2019.
15. While it is fair to give President Kuffuor the credit for conceptualizing and initiating the project, the chunk of the credit must go to the Mills/Mahama governments which worked with Euroget to secure funding for the project and supervised the construction of the project from ground zero to about 95% completion stage.
16. Akufo-Addo and Bawumia knows next to nothing about this project and contributed very little to its completion.

SAMMY GYAMFI ESQ.