Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, former Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, has called on the Mahama administration to continue and complete the Agenda 111 hospital project initiated under the Akufo-Addo government, describing it as a critical infrastructure investment that should not be abandoned.
Speaking in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Channel One TV’s Face to Face on Tuesday, January 13, Dr. Assibey-Yeboah said sustained infrastructure spending is essential for national development and job creation.
“Roll out the infrastructure spending that you are doing. Don’t abandon the Agenda 111 like we always do,” he said.
He stressed that the Agenda 111 hospitals should not be regarded as a financial burden but as necessary investments in the health sector.
“Budgets are being started, 111 hospitals, you say I’m not going to do anything to it. They are not a drain. They are doing infrastructure spending. They are building hospitals, okay?” he stated.
Dr. Assibey-Yeboah proposed a phased approach to completing the projects to make them more manageable.
“So stagger them. You have to say you will do 25 this year, something like that,” he suggested.
He also criticised the decision to cancel the One-District-One-Factory (1D1F) policy, announced in the government’s first budget, arguing that the initiative had delivered tangible results.
“They came, and in the first budget [2025], they said they have cancelled the One-District-One Factory policy. Does it make sense to you? Industries have been created. Jobs have been created. So go back to it. An industrialisation policy,” he said.
According to him, sustaining both industrialisation and infrastructure programmes is crucial to tackling unemployment, particularly among the youth.
“Because if you don’t give them jobs, the youth out there, they will come after you,” Dr. Assibey-Yeboah warned.
The Agenda 111 project was launched by the previous NPP administration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, following concerns that more than 100 districts and some regional capitals lacked hospitals. Although construction began under the then Akufo-Addo led government, many of the facilities remain uncompleted.
Since taking office, the minority has accused the current administration of abandoning the projects. The government, however, maintains that it is committed to completing all Agenda 111 facilities, insisting that provisions in the 2026 budget demonstrate ongoing efforts to deliver the hospitals.
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