Lawyer and Executive Director of Lands and Mines Watch Ghana (LMWG), Kwame Owusu Danso, has urged the current administration not to abandon the Agenda 111 hospital projects started by its predecessor despite ongoing criticisms and implementation challenges.
Speaking on Joy News’ AM Show on Wednesday, April 15, Mr Danso criticised successive governments for failing to sustain long-term development initiatives, arguing that Ghana would have made significant progress if administrations consistently built on the projects of their predecessors.
“This government comes and says, I’m going to build, let’s say, 20,000 hospitals or 100,000 hospitals across the country that we have started from J.J. Rawlings’ time, and he had built, let’s say, 50,” he said.
He continued: “Then, President Kufuor comes and builds 50; Atta Mills comes and builds 50; Mahama I comes and builds 50; Akufo-Addo builds 50; and then, you know, Mahama II also builds 50. I’m sure that we would have been satisfied, knowing that all the governments we’ve had have been able to build something that would outlive their regimes.”
According to him, the pattern of discontinuity in governance has created what he described as “a huge lacuna” in how governments have served the Ghanaian people.
“Clearly, there’s a huge lacuna in respect of how our governments have served us,” he noted.
Mr Danso further argued that political promises are often made with electoral gains in mind rather than national development.
“Oftentimes, the promises that they make to the good people of Ghana are promises that they make for the purposes of winning an election. They don’t make promises for the purposes of ensuring that Ghanaians are better off. Unfortunately so,” he added.
He stressed that while the current administration may not have initiated Agenda 111, it still has a responsibility to continue aspects of the projects.
“In simple terms, I believe that the current administration should not think of abandoning the Agenda 111 projects,” he said.
“They can simply just come to the good people of Ghana and tell the Ghanaian people that, look, we did not make this promise. However, because we are in government, we are going to ensure that we take steps to complete some of the projects that were started by the previous administration.”
He suggested that the government could scale down the project to match available resources, rather than scrapping it entirely.
“We are promising that we will not be able to do Agenda 111. We are going to do maybe 50. Or we are going to do maybe 20. Ghanaians will find comfort in the thinking that even though you didn’t start, you are continuing. And you are going to complete the ones that you think you will be able to, or your financial muscle will allow you to complete,” he explained.
His comments come amid renewed debate over the Agenda 111 initiative, following concerns raised by the Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series, Mr Akandoh questioned the planning and execution of the project under the previous administration led by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He alleged that although approximately GH₵4.8 billion had been spent, none of the Agenda 111 hospitals is currently operational.
The minister further indicated that the current administration under President John Dramani Mahama remains committed to completing and operationalising the facilities to enhance healthcare delivery across the country.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com