Show commitment to reconstructing La Hospital or we’ll frustrate budget - Minority to govt

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Greater Accra Region have threatened to frustrate the passage of the 2024 budget statement and government’s economic policy if the government does not show commitment to the reconstruction of the La General Hospital.

The Chairman of the NDC Greater Accra MPs caucus, Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, who issued the threat said the group would also organise Ga indigenes to occupy the ministries of Finance and Health if the government failed to heed to its call.

"You are on our land and cannot treat us with disdain," he told Parliament after the NDC MP for La Dade-Kotopon, Rita Naa Odoley Sowah, made a statement on the floor of the

House on the need to reconstruct the hospital and how its demolition was negatively affecting the people of La.

Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, who is also the NDC MP for Odododiodio in the Greater Accra region, said but for the construction of the Greater Accra Hospital by former President John Dramani Mahama, a number of people living in the southern part of the region would have been without a government health facility.

Budget

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, is expected to present the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government for the 2024 financial year on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.

However, the NDC MPs in the Greater Accra region are calling for the inclusion of the La General Hospital in the budget to ensure its reconstruction.

Demolition

In July, 2020, the La General Hospital was demolished after the hospital's administration in 2015 reported severe structural problems.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on August 10, 2020, cut the sod for the commencement of construction of the La General Hospital Redevelopment Project.

Unfortunately, that dream appears to have been dashed due to economic challenges heightened by several unplanned international factors.

Nii Lantey Vanderpuye said the action by the government defied common sense, and that a bird in hand was worth more than two in the bush.

Mr Vanderpuye said it was unwise for the government to have demolished the facility when it was not ready to commence the reconstruction.

He said the government could have hanged on for some time to the apparent weak structure to continue to serve the people until it was ready to construct a new one.

In his contribution, the NDC MP for Madina, Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, said it did not make "planning sense" for the government to go ahead with the demolishing when indeed, it was not ready to reconstruct a new one.

He said it was important for the government to engage the people and sought the right approach that would have served their interest.

Response

In response, the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, said the government had found an identifiable source of funding and it was working with its partners to actualise that.

He promised to give details by next week of the government's negotiation to compel the contractor to return to site.