Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has revealed that the government is trying to situate the La General Hospital project within the context of Agenda 111 and have it come up.
According to him, this is the current state of the project, noting that the government has not abandoned it.
The minister was reacting to Rita Odoley Sowah, Member of Parliament for La Dadekotopon, who described the hospital’s reconstruction as a litany of disappointments and broken promises.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu explained that, “when the agreement relating to the La Hospital came to this House, it came alongside six other hospitals, including one in my own backyard, the polyclinic at Suame.”
“What is happening is that, subsequent to the engagement with the IMF, funding from those sources – that is from that agreement that Parliament approved of – has been withheld by the sponsors,” he added.
The minister stated that it will be difficult for the sponsors to release funds until the country has a clean bill of health from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), “which is why government now wants to resort to some other means. I know on authority, that government now wanted to situate it within the context of Agenda 111,” he pointed out.
He emphasised, however, that if they had to resort to that, it would imply that the facility would have to be scaled down slightly, which was not initially included in the agreement that was presented to Parliament.
“I do know government is trying to find a way about it and dealing with the contractor for his to go back, and for the time being, situate it within the context of Agenda 111 and have the hospital come up,” he noted.
“Mr. Speaker, that is where we are. It is not as if it has been neglected. My own, a polyclinic, suffered the same thing and all those that came to this House under that cover are still not up yet,” he concluded.
The government is finding a way to re-energise it and bring it up in a big way.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament