NPP rebuts claims on Afari Military Hospital, says project is 98% complete

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has challenged recent public comments regarding the status of the Afari Military Hospital project, insisting that the 500-bed health facility is substantially complete and requires only limited outstanding work before it can become operational.

In a statement issued by the Party’s Policy Secretariat and signed by Co-chair of the NPP Policy Committee on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, the party said official records from the Ministry of Defence indicate that the project’s core hospital component had reached 92.5 percent completion by September 2024 and increased to 98 percent by January 2025.

The NPP therefore described suggestions that the facility is only about 60 percent complete as inaccurate.

According to the statement, civil works on the core hospital stood at 97.5 percent completion as of September 2024, while architectural works had reached 87 percent. Support facilities, including staff housing, roads and landscaping, were also reported to be significantly advanced, with only a small balance of work remaining.

The party also disputed claims that government must pay approximately US$85 million before work on the hospital can continue. It said there is no record at either the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Defence to support such a figure.

Providing a breakdown of the project’s financial commitments, the NPP stated that the original contract sum of US$180 million had been fully paid. It further explained that an additional negotiated claim of US$19.3 million, arising from delays linked to earlier relocation challenges, had also been settled in full.

The statement added that a separate claim initially exceeding US$6.5 million was negotiated down to US$3 million, of which US$2.5 million has already been paid, leaving an outstanding balance of US$500,000.

The statement also traced the history of the project, noting that the hospital was first contracted in 2008 for a site at Sofoline in Kumasi before being relocated several times and eventually sited at Afari. Physical construction, according to the party, began in 2014 and had reached about 40 percent completion by December 2016.

The NPP argued that significant progress was made between 2017 and January 2025, during which the project advanced from approximately 40 percent completion to 98 percent.

It therefore rejected assertions that little or no work had been undertaken over the period.

“The Afari Military Hospital should be completed and made operational to serve the Ghana Armed Forces and the people of the Ashanti Region,” the party stated, urging authorities to settle the outstanding US$500,000 and complete the remaining works.

The statement further advised senior members of the party to ensure that public commentary on the project is guided by verified facts and established party positions, stressing the need for internal consultation where disagreements arise.

The Afari Military Hospital is expected to become one of the largest healthcare facilities in the Ashanti Region once fully operational.