The Minority in Parliament has pushed back strongly against claims made by the Deputy Minister for Defence, Ernest Brogya Genfi, over the Afari Military Hospital project, accusing the government of misrepresenting the financial position of the project and attempting to justify what they describe as an unjustified US$85 million demand for completion works.
According to the Minority, only US$500,000 remains outstanding to the contractor, and any suggestion of a much larger payment obligation is false and misleading.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday, June 16, Deputy Ranking Member on the Defence and Interior Committee, Kofi Amankwa-Manu, dismissed the Deputy Minister’s claims that contractor Euroget De-Invest (EDI) is demanding US$85 million to return to site.
“The Deputy Minister’s assertion that the contractor, Euroget De-Invest (EDI), is demanding US$85 million before returning to the site is a manufactured crisis. Let the facts be clear: no records at the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Defence support this outrageous claim,” Mr Amankwa-Manu said.
He explained that financial records show the original US$180 million contract—financed through a loan arrangement—has already been fully paid.
He added that an additional US$19.3 million approved by the government to cover delays linked to earlier project relocations had also been settled in full.
“The negotiated additional funding of US$19.3 million (Government of Ghana) for delays caused by the NDC’s misguided relocations has been fully paid,” he stated.
Mr Amankwa-Manu further noted that from a later claim of about US$3 million, which was reduced from more than US$6.5 million during negotiations, US$2.5 million has already been paid.
He stressed that the only outstanding payment to the contractor stands at US$500,000.
“The only outstanding amount owed to the contractor is US$500,000,” he said.
He questioned how the government arrived at the figure of US$85 million, describing it as completely inconsistent with available records.
“To jump from an outstanding balance of US$500,000 to a sudden demand for US$85 million is not just mathematically absurd; it is criminal,” he stated.
Mr Amankwa-Manu warned that any attempt to approve what he called an ‘inflated claim’ would be strongly resisted by the Minority.
“Any attempt to use the back door to pay this newly generated, unjustified amount of US$85 million can only be described by the popular Ghanaian cliché ‘Create, Loot, and Share’,” he said.
He insisted that the Minority would insist on accountability and value for money, urging government to settle the remaining US$500,000 and allow the contractor to complete the final stages of the project without further delay.
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