The lawyer for Awerco Construction Limited, the contractor working on the Weija-Gbawe Children’s Hospital project, says communication from the World Bank indicates that his client properly executed the work assigned under the contract.
Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, lawyer Yaw Acquah criticised recent public comments made by the Ministry of Health spokesperson, Tony Goodman, who has been presenting what he describes as the ministry’s version of events on various media platforms.
According to him, the contractor maintains that several claims being made by the ministry are inaccurate and do not reflect the situation on the ground.
“From the beginning, we made it clear that what the ministry is saying is not accurate as things stand. A lot of the things they are saying are still not accurate. We made it clear that we will explore the law, and as things stand now, we will do that,” he said.
Mr. Acquah stressed that legal action will be pursued where necessary, adding that the contractor is prepared to fully defend its position within the law.
“Certain points, we’ll explore the full extent of the law,” he added.
He further stated that communications from the World Bank support the contractor’s position that all contractual obligations were met in line with agreed terms.
“Everyone has seen the communication from the World Bank, and it shows that right from the beginning, my client fulfilled all the terms of the contract,” he said.
According to him, Awerco is not new to World Bank-funded projects and has a track record of executing similar assignments successfully.
“When you visit the World Bank website, my client is registered with the World Bank to undertake projects, and this isn’t the first project they are executing. This would be about the second, third, and even the fourth, if I’m not mistaken,” he explained.
Mr. Acquah also expressed concern about earlier public statements from the ministry’s spokesperson, saying they created tension between the parties.
“The first communication from Mr. Goodman, we were really peeved because it seemed there was a rift between us,” he noted.
He added that the contractor still hopes the ministry will reconsider its position and work toward resolving issues to allow the stalled hospital project to progress.
“Going forward, we hope they will admit where they’ve gone wrong and be the bigger man. They will have to step forward and let Ghanaians know that what they did was not right, so they should be forgiven,” he said.
He stressed that the priority should be ensuring the hospital is completed and opened as soon as possible.
“So we are hoping now that the ministry has lost whatever credibility with the Ghanaian people, they will step forward and do the needful because the hospital has to be opened at all cost,” he added.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has stated that the 120-bed specialised paediatric hospital at Weija was constructed and equipped under its COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Project at a total cost of US$10.15 million.
In a response on the status of the facility, the Bank said it remains “strongly desirous” of seeing the hospital opened to the public as soon as possible for Ghanaians to benefit from the investment.
It further explained that although the project officially closed on December 16, 2025, after a six-month extension, some critical outstanding activities were still pending at the time of closure.
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