Accra: Yesterday, members of the Minority on Parliament's Health Committee visited the Afari Military Hospital and attempted to hold a press conference to create the impression that the facility is "near completion" and that the current NDC government is simply delaying its operationalisation.
According to Ghana Web, this narrative is propaganda. It is misleading, historically inaccurate, and deliberately ignores the full timeline of the project. It twists facts to score cheap political points at the expense of truth and public understanding.
The Afari Military Hospital was never an NPP idea or priority. It was conceived, designed, funded, and pushed to over 80% completion during the NDC administration from 2009 to 2016, under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama. As part of the NDC's comprehensive plan to expand healthcare access and improve medical services for both military personnel and surrounding civilian communities in the Ashanti Region, the project was awarded, construction commenced, and major structural works were substantially completed before the 2016 general elections.
Despite the hospital being near completion in late 2016, the NPP government under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo allowed it to sit idle, gathering dust and deteriorating, for eight long years. No meaningful work was carried out on the site between 2017 and early 2025. Budgets for the project were repeatedly reduced or completely removed, contractors were left unpaid, and critical equipment orders were either cancelled or never placed.
Yesterday's tour by the Minority was not a sincere effort to oversee healthcare infrastructure or hold the government accountable. It was a carefully staged political event designed to create misleading visuals and soundbites. Their sudden interest today is hypocrisy of the highest order. They are pointing to unfinished sections that remain incomplete because of their own eight-year neglect and attempting to shift the blame onto the very government that has now moved to revive the project they abandoned.
Since returning to office in early 2025, the NDC government has made the completion and operationalisation of the Afari Military Hospital a key priority. Unlike the NPP, it has taken practical and measurable steps to advance the project. It conducted a comprehensive technical audit of the site, re-engaged the original contractors, secured funding, and resumed construction work in mid-2025.
The NPP has repeatedly claimed that it always continues projects initiated by the NDC, while the NDC allegedly abandons NPP projects upon returning to power. This narrative is false and serves as an attempt to conceal the party's own poor record. The NPP has often abandoned, delayed, or neglected projects initiated by the NDC, only to later rebrand them and claim credit.
The story of the Afari Military Hospital is not evidence that the Nana Addo administration performed better or was more committed to development. Rather, it illustrates what critics describe as incompetence, a lack of vision, and disregard for the healthcare needs of people in the Ashanti Region and across Ghana.
The NPP's narrative that the Afari Military Hospital demonstrates its superior performance is, according to its critics, unsupported by the project's actual history. The facts, they argue, are straightforward: the NDC conceived the project, funded it, and brought it close to completion, while the NPP left it unfinished for eight years and failed to make it operational. The NDC (2025-present) has revived the project, secured funding, resumed work, and is moving toward completion.