The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang Manu, has countered the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) argument that the 88 district hospitals to be constructed were not captured in the 2020 budget, and that the government was making anther empty promise.
According to the Health Minister, if the argument of the NDC is anything to go by, then, perhaps, the government could not have spent on the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) because this year’s budget did not anticipate that.
At a press briefing yesterday, the Health Minister used that example to prove the government’s resolve to ensure that it gives the 88 district assemblies a hospital each.
Debates began when President Akufo-Addo, in his 8th update on measures put in place by the government to fight the current pandemic, mentioned the construction of hospitals in 88 districts across the country.
However, the Minority Spokesperson on Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, believes it was not feasible to see the promise coming to fruition.
Speaking to an Accra based radio station, MrAkandoh quizzed: “88 hospitals in one year, obviously, it is not in this budget, so how long is it going to take Cabinet to even approve it? How long is it going to come to Parliament for us to consider it? How long are you going to secure these funds? How long is it going to take to be disbursed? How long will the bidding and procurement processes be done? How long will it take the contractor to go to site?
“The President must know it’s not business-as-usual where he can throw anything at Ghanaians and Ghanaians will accept it like what he did before 2016. So, we’ll subject some of these things to proper scrutiny,” he added.
Commenting on the issue separately, a former Finance Minister, Seth Terpker, noted that since the project was not captured in the 2020 budget, the option available was the supplementary budget, but swiftly added that the constitution states specific purposes for the supplementary budget.
“In the first place, the mid-year review, when it comes with a supplementary budget, which is where this is going to come to, the constitution is quite clear on the purpose of the supplementary budget – which is anything which is not anticipated in the budget.
“And one will think that for 88 hospitals, even if they are all district hospitals, even if they are all CHPS compounds, are big projects,” concluding that he thinks is a tall order, even if it’s going to be completed.
Meanwhile, the Minister, when addressing the media, indicated that he had heard discussions on radio and television about the fact that the project was not captured in the budget.
“But, COVID was not in the budget. That is correct, but all of a sudden we’ve managed to buy PPE; we’ve managed to award a few contracts; we’ve managed to quarantine people, initially, thousand and thirty, in good hotels in Accra, and we have paid for all of them,” he asserted.
The Minister touted the credentials of the Akufo-Addo-led government, saying: “There’s a lot that we have done over the last few months. All these expenditures were not in the budget, but, when my colleague, the Finance Minister, went to Parliament to seek approval for the one billion facility from the IMF, he mentioned that this money is supposed to support lost revenues and additional COVID-19 expenditures. So, there’s hope, and if you dream, and you don’t dream big, God does not bless you to do big things.”
The post Minister Shreds NDC Argument on 88 hospitals appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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