Former Assin Central MP, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has voiced frustration over the long stall in getting the Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region fully running, calling it a lost chance to boost healthcare delivery nationwide.
Speaking to journalists after handing over a pickup and 15 motorbikes to the Ghana Police Service at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters on Tuesday, June 16, the former New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful took aim at past governments, including the NPP administration where he chaired Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee.
Kennedy Agyapong said the hospital, planned as a key facility for both military personnel and civilians, should have been finished and functional years back, considering the huge funds already sunk into its development.
Recalling the project’s background, he noted that groundwork for the hospital began under former President John Agyekum Kufuor, while major construction was carried out under a later National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
He said although the NPP inherited the project on taking office, the party did not take the required steps to complete and operationalize it during its eight years in power.
“This hospital was started by President John Agyekum Kufuor. The locations and all those things. NDC came to start it, and when we came, I am NPP, and I am telling you the gospel truth. I was the chairman for Defence and Interior, and we didn’t do anything.
“When we decided to go and inspect Afari, they stopped us. I heard somebody saying the Afari Hospital has been there for 15 months, but we were there for eight years and didn’t do it.”
