Dr John Kumah, the deputy minister for Finance, has debunked assertions that government will use funds from the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) for the Agenda 111 project.
Speaking in an interview, he revealed that GIIF is simply a conduit for mobilising funds for the Agenda 111 project. He further explained that this is primarily aimed at improving health care delivery in the country.
“The government wants to use GIIF as a vehicle to raise the financing for the Agenda 111. It doesn’t mean that GIIF itself is the funding source. So, as we speak, we have created a special purpose vehicle account called the GIIF Health Infrastructure Account.”
Dr John Kumah
According to him, the Health Infrastructure account, controls the funding for Agenda 111 and will be managed by the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund.
The Deputy Finance Minister further indicated that funds raised for Agenda 111 will go into that account and subsequently will be disbursed for the project through GIIF.
Dr Kumah further addressed some teething concerns raised by Ghanaians and minority on the funding for Agenda 111.
The Minority, has for sometimes issued a barrage of accusations over government’s spending of GH¢636 million on the project even prior to its launch.
Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, ranking Member on the Health Committee in Parliament, noted that the Minority will push for further investigations into the expenditure.
Government’s funding on Agenda 111 project
Justifying government’s funding of the project, Dr Kumah maintained that currently, the Health Infrastructure account contains the GH¢600 million from government.
He explained that since the account was created to avoid a mix up of funding at the Ghana Investment and Infrastructure Fund, the money was moved to that account at the Bank of Ghana.
“That is how project accounts are run. So, if you go to GIIF and for instance, they needed funds to complete Terminal 3, I believe they will have a special account there dedicated to Terminal 3 financing arrangements.
“So, it is the same thing. What is being done here is to ensure that all the financing that is going into Agenda 111, goes into that specific account”.
Dr John Kumah
Additionally, Dr Kumah emphasized that as it stands now, only GH¢36 million cedis has been spent on the project.
These funds, he explained, were channelled into the project designs, land acquisition, consultants and coordinators.
Touching on funding, the deputy finance minister revealed that government is looking into bonds, concessionary loans, external sources among others to help raise funds for the project.
“We are looking at all sources even if it means syndicating loans to ensure that we are able to complete these facilities”.
Dr John Kumah
Government assures no delay in Agenda 111 project
Prior to this, the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, had assured that funding for the Agenda 111 hospital project will not undergo the usual bureaucratic processes that tend to delay the implementation of projects.
According to him, the government is committed to ensuring the immediate completion of the Regional and District hospitals under the initiative.
“All the district hospitals and the psychiatric hospitals are going to be funded through Ghana government funding. It is going to be over about a 3-year cycle budgetary allocation. Already, the Minister for Finance announced in the mid-year review that the $100 million has been given to the Ghana Infrastructural Development fund so that it doesn’t go through the normal bureaucratic processes.
“A lot of planning and thinking went into this before it came out. Not only do we have the structure planned out, but almost everything that goes into it, the structure, equipment, the personnel, and I must say we have enough personnel for the hospitals.”
Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare
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