The Medical Centre, which has been equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities was inaugurated in January 2017 by former President John Mahama, but nearly a year down the down line, the facility is yet to be operational.

There is currently a tussle between the University of Ghana and the Ministry of Health as to who should manage the centre.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Ft2nI2n4Aw7ej21bMx12C3dioHB1uVoH”]Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday, a Deputy Minister of Health, Kingsley Aboagye Gyedu, was unable to give timelines for the operationalization of the facility.

He said: “I wish I could give you a timeline, don’t forget I’m only a deputy minister, I report to a Minister, he has the programme; he will be able to tell you we can get it done tomorrow or the next day. But as far as I’m concerned, my boss and myself are moving heaven and earth to make sure we operationalize the hospital as soon as practicable…I cannot tell you something I’m not sure of… I’m not in the driving seat, I haven’t discussed this with my boss so I cannot give you any hope. How can I give deadlines when I’m not in the driving seat.”

The Deputy Minister further explained that, the operationalization of the facility has delayed because a sum of $6 million is needed to  put finishing touches to first phase of the project, but added that his outfit is supposed to do value for money assessment before the amount is released.

“What has been almost completed is the first phase. There’s a phase two that needs to be completed, and indeed even to operationalize it, it is estimated that we need another $6 million and to finish the phase two, we need about $50 million.”

Mr. Gyedu argued that, the value for money assessment is necessary to ensure that the tax payer is not shortchanged.

“I believe that as a prudent government we need to sit down and do the right thing and be sure that if we are going to pump the tax payers $6 million into a project that was originally supposed to cost less than the amount of money that has been spent, we need to do due diligence to be sure that indeed the $6 million we are pumping in is worth $6 million so that when we operationalize the hospital, we will not open ourselves up for any probe,” he added.

Tussle on who manages the Medical Centre

On the tussle regarding who should manage the facility, Mr. Gyedu said Cabinet is handling the issue and will give a directive on it in due course.

“So Cabinet’s decision was that halt all the hullabaloo for the Ministry of Health to look for the $50 million funding to do the phase two, whilst we wait for further deliberations for Cabinet to take a final decision on who should operationalize it,” he said.

Click here for the full interview of the Deputy Minister on the Citi Breakfast Show:

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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According to him, the first phase of the Medical Centre, which cost 217 million dollars to establish, is yet to be completed because of the lack of funds needed for its operationalization.

[contextly_sidebar id=”cktvm7XkUQb8veVP964f0k8xyHVktHPP”]“The hospital has not been officially handed over to the Ministry, it is not complete, as we speak now, the operationalization is not like the working capital, we need to put certain things in place before the hospital can be open to the public,” he said.

Speaking in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show, Kingsley Aboagye Gyedu said his outfit also needs an additional 50 million US dollars to complete the second phase of the project.

He noted that it would be better to seek a loan to complete both phases of the project in order to save the Ministry from unnecessary interest charges that would be incurred by borrowing for the completion of each phase separately.

“The Chief of Staff summoned a meeting of high powered members of Cabinet. We met and the issue has been resolved, so as far as I know, my boss and my Ministry are actually looking for the 50 million to complete the phase two of the project, while Cabinet takes steps to resolve the operationalization, ”he said.

“Going for a loan of just 6 million dollars will be more expensive because every loan comes with process fees, commitment fees and other incidental costs. So to minimize the cost it will be worth our while looking for a bulk loan to the operationalization and completion of phase two,” Mr. Gyedu said.

Background

In 2012, the government signed a contract with Messrs. Engineering and Development Consultant (EDC) of Israel to build the first phase of the facility.

The University of Legon designated 400 acres of land for the entire project.

The first phase of the University of Ghana Medical Centre was completed in November 2016 and was handed over to the university.

It is yet to be operational following disagreements over the legitimate manager of the facility.

About 800 personnel are needed to get the facility fully operational.

But the Ministry of Health in recent times is laying claims to the facility, leading to uncertainties over who has the responsibility to manage the centre.

Phase one of the project was commissioned by then President John Mahama, who charged his successor Nana Akufo-Addo to work hard to ensure the facility is made fully operational.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, some health sector professionals in Ghana charged with responsibilities do not want to be accountable in the discharge of their duties, hence the rising number of corruption-related cases.

[contextly_sidebar id=”g1bVeRUrdjFRzOPxSmV7eoQJke97bZGk”]The Deputy Minister made the remarks at the maiden launch of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ghana Association of Doctors in Residency (GADOR), at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.

He said free postgraduate studies would be possible if the sector succeeds in reducing the revenue leakages in the sector.

Mr. Aboagye Gyedu implored professionals to cooperate with the Ministry of Health in their efforts to bring accountability in the health sector.

“If we were to succeed in reducing corruption, the leakages in the revenue flowing to the health sector by even 20%, free postgraduate studies can be highly possible. So we pray and hope that when we get there and want to bring some level of accountability so that we will help you and people who will come after you, you will bear with us. And also cooperate so that we can do what is necessary in order to do what is probable.”

He also expressed concerns about how some doctors leave the country to work elsewhere after Government funds their training.

He called for an end to such practices indicating there is a disservice to the tax-payer whose money was used to fund their training programmes.

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By: Hafiz Tijani/ctifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Church has also dissociated itself from all other claims made by Mr. Atta Mensah.

Mr. Atta Mensah  in an interview on  Ghana Television (GTV) claimed that he had won Nobel Prize in physics.

He also told the station that he was the current Chairman of African Computer Society (ACS) and the 4th youngest Ghanaian African Scientist to go to NASA.

The story went viral on social media with some calling on GTV to apologize to Ghanaians.

His claim also informed a thanksgiving service by the Church of Pentecost to honour his supposed achievements.

It was however later discovered that Mr. Atta Mensah’s claims were untrue.

According to his friends and old school mates, he had not made the achievements he claimed he had.

The Journalist who interviewed Mr. Attah Mensah, Abdul Hayi Moomen has also come under fire for failing to conduct proper research

The disclaimer issued by the Church of Pentecost said: “The Church wishes to intimate that yearly, it acknowledges members who excel in their fields of endeavour as a way of motivation based on trust. It is in this vein that seven members were honoured during this year’s Extra Ordinary Council Meetings including Fauster. Fauster’s claim has however turned out to be false.”

“Meanwhile the church is helping him to see a clinical psychologist. Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted,” it further stated.

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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After an intense channel battle GTV, Ghana’s premier television network and its sports channel  GTV Sport Plus, finally succeeded in pricing away from other competing TV networks the much heralded  Brazil 2014 World Cup Soccer Fiesta sport documentary series presented by ace sports broadcaster and senior lecturer at the Ghana School of Law, Moses Foh-Amoaning.

Source: Moses Foh-Amoaning

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The budget details for the Black Stars participation at the 2014 World Cup is a state secret, according to Ibrahim Sannie Daara.

The Director of Communications at the Ghana Football Association was reacting to the news broken by two media outlets, Citi FM and the Captivating Ghana Sports newspaper, that they had details of the breakdown of the budget for the tournament.

“As we speak now those figures speculated in the media have got no legs to stand on,” Sannie said in a debate on the state-owned Ghana  Television.

“I’d say with no equivocation that as I sit here as Director of Communications of the GFA, I’ve not seen the breakdown.”

“The Chief of Staff has said that this is a state secret and if someone brings it and if I am not able to authenticate it, I will say that person s carrying a false document.”

The former BBC journalist had been invited to GTV’s Sunday Night Live show hosted by Christopher Opoku and Karl Tufuoh.

Also invited were the Sports Editor of Peace FM, Dan Kweku Yeboah and Gary Al-Smith, Citi Sports’ editor.

Last week, Yeboah and Al-Smith released figures from documents they had intercepted which showed that, among other things, the  officials who make up the Black Stars management committee will get slightly more bonuses than the players themselves during the group stages of the World Cup.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL CITI SPORTS STORY ON WORLD BUDGET

“Show me the documents”

But even though Sannie admitted that he had not seen the budget breakdown, he insisted that what the two journalists were reporting were “concoctions”, going further to call Al-Smith a “liar” who uses lies as his “stock in trade.”

The FA spokesman challenged the two journalists to show him documents from the office of the Chief of Staff, which is – according to him – the only place the breakdown could have been leaked from.

“If anybody comes out with any breakdown, unless I see the documents as authentic from the Chief of Staff’s Office I will say that [whatever they have as a] document is a ruse,” Sannie said.

Sannie revealed that after meetings with the Chief of Staff, everyone present had been charged not to discuss the details of the budget, but quickly dismissed claims that the GFA do not want the public to know.

On his part, Dan Kweku Yeboah also contended that taxpayers’ money cannot be used for projects and be labelled state secrets, “unless they think there are things to hide from the people of Ghana.”

Citi Sports editor Al-Smith also pointed out that as a fundamental principle of journalism, he was under no obligation to disclose sources.

Al-Smith told the FA spokesman: “You’ve been a journalist for more than 15 years. Look at me very carefully, do I look like a journalist who will disclose my sources to you?”

A visibly angry Sannie charged: “How dare you talk to me like that?”

The program remained heated until  it had to be abruptly ended by the hosts.

When contacted, producers at GTV however told Citi Sports that the show was ended because it had overrun and not because of an order from senior management, as was widely speculated in the past few days.

WATCH VIDEO 

By: Citi Sports Desk

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