Agenda 111 is an afterthought; there is no transparency in the funding source - Mahama

Former President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama has said the government’s attempt to build hospitals across the country under its Agenda 111 initiative is an afterthought.

According to him, the initiative is a face-saving move seeking to cure the Nana Addo government’s failure to show evidence of infrastructure for the colossal amount of money it has borrowed since it assumed office in 2017.

Speaking to the media in Bolgatanga as part of his ‘Thank You Tour, the former President said there is no transparency in how the construction of the hospitals will be funded.

“We were criticized by our successors as over-borrowing but a lot of what we borrowed for was tangible for people to be able to see.

"Several years later you are a witness to what has happened. From 120 billion cedis of total public debt to almost 400 billion cedis. What most Ghanaians ask is what have we done with this money?” he questioned.

“Looks like most of it has gone into consumption rather than into providing the kind of infrastructure that we need. Is only as an afterthought that suddenly realized that we must be doing some infrastructure.

"So Agenda 111 has been conjured. There is no transparency in how the money is going to be procured. Is it going to be too much borrowing when we already have such a high debt hanging around the country’s neck? These are all things that we could build a consensus around if they were ready to open up," he added.

The government has announced the construction of 101 District Hospitals across the country under its Agenda 111 at a cost of nearly $17 million each. Under the initiative, some new regional hospitals will be built with two additional specialized hospitals.

President Akufo Addo is has cut sod for the commencement of the construction today August 17, 2021, in the Ashanti region.

The government also announced that funding has been secured with an initial amount of $100 million made available by the government of Ghana for the commencement of the construction.

 Stephen Amoah, Upper East Region