Former Municipal Chief Executive for Atwima Nwabiagya, Michael Awuku Amoah, has insisted that the Afari Military Hospital was fully completed, equipped, and ready for operations before the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration exited office.
He made the disclosure on Nhyira FM’s’Kurom Yi Mu Nsem as public pressure mounts over the delay in commissioning the facility for patients.
Mr. Awuku Amoah claims the NPP government had even begun training staff in preparation for employment at the facility, indicating that steps were already being taken to make the hospital operational before the change in government.
According to him, former President Nana Akufo-Addo had scheduled the commissioning of the Afari Military Hospital alongside the Sawua Hospital, but the plan was disrupted due to the unavailability of the contractors on the scheduled date.
“The Afari Military Hospital was ready to serve the public before we left office. It was 100% complete and everything was intact, fully equipped and waiting for commissioning. The government even started training staff, and I personally know a nurse who was sent by my former member of parliament to take part in the military training, this person is now work at Tepa hospital,” he told the host, Nana Kwabena Ampratwum.
“The plan was for President Akufo-Addo to commission both the Afari and Sawua hospitals together, but the contractors didn’t make themselves available and refused to hand over the project due to contractor-related issues,” Mr. Awuku Amoah added.
He clarified that before the NPP administration left office, the government had no outstanding debt to the project contractors. As a result, any contractor-related issues were internal matters between the contractors themselves.
“At the time we were leaving office, the government did not owe the contractor even one pesewa. The contractor-related issue was that the contractor to whom the project was awarded had subcontracted the work to a different contractor. This led to a dispute between the main contractor and the subcontractors, which the government was intervening to resolve, but unfortunately the change of government prevented us from completing the process,” he disclosed.
The 500-bed capacity of Afari Military Hospital, located at Afari in the Atwima Nwabiagya North District of the Ashanti Region, was initiated to ease pressure on the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and improve access to specialized healthcare for military personnel and civilians in the middle belt of Ghana.
The facility is expected to offer services including surgery, maternity, pediatrics, and diagnostics.
Chaos erupted at the Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region on June 10, 2026, when military personnel confronted and temporarily blocked Minority members of Parliament’s Health Committee from the premises.
The lawmakers, led by Ranking Member on Health Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, had arrived for an official site inspection to highlight delays in operationalizing the 500-bed facility
Commenting on the incident, Michael Awuku Amoah stated that since the project has not been officially handed over to the government, Ghanaian citizens still have the right to visit the site and access it.
He condemned the deployment of military personnel to prevent MPs from entering the project area, describing the move unfortunate.
“There is nothing to hide about the project. It is funded with Ghanaians’ taxpayers’ money, so they have every right to access it without anyone’s permission. If security personnel are present, their job is only to ensure that the equipment meant for the project does not go missing”.
When the host brought up a similar incident involving the then-NDC minority’s visit to the same facility during his tenure as MCE for the area, he denied giving the military such a directive.
“In fact, I wasn’t aware that the NDC MPs were coming to inspect the project, and I wasn’t worried about it because they didn’t have to inform me before going there. The military personnel who were deployed to block them from entering were not acting on my orders, and that was unfortunate,” he stated.
Source: Francis Mensah
ALSO READ:
