Head of Research and Training, Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC-GH), Benjamin Nsiah
Head of Research and Training at the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC-GH), Benjamin Nsiah, said the government’s “Agenda 111 Project” is impossible to be completed within the given timeframe.
According to him, the government of the day should have learnt from the nation’s history of projects being abandoned by previous governments “and made a SMART political promise.”
Although the government has promised to complete Agenda 111 in 18 months, Benjamin Nsiah questioned the possibility of even finishing the projects by the next election (2024).
He noted that politicians always find problems for themselves with utterances they make. “The government cannot complete these hospitals with the money they have and within the given timeframe. They should’ve simply promised a few hospitals which were realistic.”
Taking Ghanaians down memory lane, he shared, “the NDC said they’ll complete 200 Senior High Schools but couldn’t. The only projects they finished were ones sponsored by the World Bank and not the government of Ghana projects.”
He argues the government should have focused on using the $100million available to them to complete a few hospitals which “Ghanaians could’ve remembered the NPP for. If it’ll cost $17million for each facility to be completed, then we can build up to 5 or 6 facilities with the money we have and that is what should’ve been done.”
Speaking to Don Kwabena Prah on Happy98.9FM’s Epa Hoa Daben political talk show, Benjamin Nsiah noted that out of the 111 hospitals, 101 of them were Government of Ghana projects. “The government will need about $1.8billion to complete these and they are to be self-funded.”
The Head of Research for COPEC indicated that the NPP can engage in sloganeering “but they should face the reality that they cannot complete the 101 projects in a year and a half.”
On his accord, it is not wrong for the government to have a good vision but, “if the President had promised 5 hospitals then, he could’ve finished them without incident. The bar has now been raised high and even if he finishes 5 hospitals, he will be taken on.”
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as part of measures to mitigate the impact of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, today, Tuesday, August 17, 2021, broke grounds for the commencement of the construction of hospitals under the government’s Agenda 111 initiative.
The project is part of a grand vision for Ghana’s healthcare sector by the Akufo-Addo administration, the realization of which will ensure that 101 outstanding districts will be provided with hospitals in addition to 10 selected regional and specialized hospitals.
The President personally observed the commencement of works at Trede in the Ashanti Region with other contractors in other districts expected to commence work afterward.
He said Agenda 111 is programmed to take 18 months to complete from the commencement of each unit, with a funding of $100 million from the government through the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF).