Dr. Mrk Kurt Nawaane, Member of Parliament for Nabdam in the Upper East Region and Deputy Ranking Member of the Health Select Committee in Parliament, is worried about the government’s obvious ‘cat and mouse’ play with regard to details about financing and implementation of the government’s priority programme; Agenda 111.
Dr. Nawaane said the Akufo-Addo led government has been cagey about the exact details of the project. Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show, Dr. Nawaane explained that even in Parliament and at the Committee level, the government, through the Health Ministry has failed at every turn to furnish Parliament with details about the project.
He said the lack of information makes it extremely difficult for the government to get the needed support.
Dr. Nawaane added that the government’s deliberate cagey behaviour makes it almost impossible to know whether government to make judicious use of the funds available or not.
“We [Parliamentary Select Committee of Health] have been chasing information about what is happening with the Agenda 111. It appears it [the programme] has been reviewed but we have not been updated. Currently, we do not even know what is actually happening. The source of funding is a problem”.
“I understand it [Agenda 111] has started in some places. Issues about the funding, they are not opening it up to us,” he said.
Dr. Nawaane continued to say “the Minister of Health is being very evasive. I recently asked a question about it and it has been postponed on two different occasions”.
According to the lawmaker, the question filed on the Floor of Parliament was to enquire about the status of the hospital that is supposed to be built in the Nabdam District.
Dr. Nawaane said, “as for Nabdam, nothing has been started. That is why i wanted to know its status”.
Seven Districts in the Upper East Region are expected to benefit from the government’s Agenda 111. They are Garu, Tempane, Pusiga, Binduri, Kassena-Nankana West, Nabdam, Bolgatanga East and Builsa South Districts.
Meanwhile, the Coalition of NGOs in Health is worried about whether the government still has the financial wherewithal to complete all the 111 hospitals under the much-touted Agenda 111. The worry comes on the back of the serious economic dump the country is currently faced with.
According to the Coalition, even more worrying is the fact that the government has not been transparent about the source of funding for the grand agenda.
This came to light when the Upper East Regional Coordinator for the NGOs in Health, Patrick Namoo spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show.
A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
