Agenda 111: Govt cannot complete and operationalise a single hospital before exiting power – Ex-Buem MP
Former Member of Parliament for Buem, Daniel Kwasi Ashiaman has cast doubt on the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government’s ability to complete a single hospital and operate it under the Agenda 111 hospital project before leaving office.
Speaking on Ghana Kasa show on Kasapa FM, the former legislator stated emphatically that none of the hospitals will be completed before the government exits power on January 2, 2025.
“…To be fair I will score this government 4 over 10. The reason I say I will give them that score is that if you look at Agenda 111 [hospitals], they have started but I assure you, you can keep this voice, they can’t finish just one hospital for doctors and nurses to be in before they leave power.
“Where are the 40 hospitals they claim have been completed? You know the NPP loves to tell lies. They should mention where the hospitals are situated. Initially I said they can’t finish 10, now we have about 22 days to the elections, I repeat, just one hospital, they can’t complete. They said they have finished some hospitals in the Western Region, but that is not part of Agenda 111, the Agenda 111 hospitals have unique designs. So if someone says he has completed 40 of the Agenda 111 hospitals, he should show the pictures to Ghanaians.
The spokesperson for the campaign of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer for the 2024 election, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, recently announced that over forty hospitals built under the Nana Addo-led government’s Agenda 111 projects are ready for commissioning.
Speaking on Joy News’s AM Show on Monday, November 4, 2024, Miracles stated that these hospitals are fully constructed and ready for use.
“Between 45 and 47 of them will be commissioned before the end of the year,” he said during the show. “They will be commissioned and put to use.”
He added, “As we speak, most of them are nearly complete in terms of the installation of their equipment, and about five of them are in the Ashanti Region.”
According to him, Dr Bawumia is committed to continuing and completing the remaining projects if given the chance to lead the country in the upcoming elections.
The Agenda 111 projects, officially known as Ghana’s Priority Health Infrastructure Projects, aim to provide quality healthcare across the country. The initiative comprises seven regional hospitals, two regional psychiatric hospitals (for the northern and middle belt zones), and one new national psychiatric hospital in Accra.
Vacant Seats: Why 5 Supreme Court Judges ruled in favour of Afenyo-Markin’s suit
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, ruled that unless a member of parliament chooses to change his political identification and continue to serve in Parliament under the new identity, he cannot be considered to have resigned from office.
According to the court’s ruling explaining why it upheld a complaint filed by the Majority Leader in Parliament, Article 97(1)(g) and (h) of the Constitution solely pertained to the current term of Parliament and could not be claimed to have a futuristic application.
It follows from the above therefore, that the only plausible conclusion which must necessarily flow from a holistic and contextual reading of Article 97(1)(g) and (h) is that an MP’s seat shall be vacated upon departure from the cohort of his elected party in Parliament to join another party in Parliament while seeking to remain in that Parliament as a member of the new party,” the court ruled.
Similarly, an independent MP who joins the cohort of a party in Parliament, while they remain Members of the Parliament for which they were elected as Independent Member, will have to vacate the seat tagged as that of an Independent Member,” the court added.
Article 97(1)(g) and (h) of the Constitution, the court decided, only applied during a current term of Parliament and did not apply to an MP running for office under a new party identity.
“Consequently, Article 97(1)(g) and (h) must be understood within their contextual framework, with no implicit or explicit indication that they pertain to future electoral aspirations or intentions that would materialize in subsequent terms, such as an MP contesting under a different ticket in the next election cycle,” the court held.
Justice Yaw Darko Asare authored the 5-2 majority decision of the court.
Justices Avril Lovelace Johnson and Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu dissented, while Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, Justices Mariama Owusu, Samuel Kwame Adibu-Aseidu, Ernest Yao Gaewu, and Yaw Darko Asare were on the majority side.
Dissenting opinions
According to Justices Johnson and Amadu’s respective dissenting opinions, the High Court was empowered to decide the case in accordance with Article 99 of the Constitution, and the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction over it.
According to Justice Tanko, the Constitution’s Article 99 makes it abundantly evident that the High Court, not the Supreme Court, should decide whether or not a vacancy in Parliament is lawful.
He stated that the suit should have been filed in the High Court and that the High Court should submit the matter to the Supreme Court in accordance with Article 130(2 of the Constitution) if there was a question of constitutional interpretation.
In addition to being incorrect, Justice Tanko believed that the way the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction was asserted constituted a “aberration of processes.”
“I do not hasten to proclaim that, I have apprehended with despair the majority’s conclusion in this suit but I state, with utmost deference to the Hon. Chief Justice and the rest of my brethren in the majority that, not only do I fundamentally disagree with their conclusion, I, with all due respect, also find the decision an aberration to the established and accepted judicial position of this court which with profound respect,
“I hope in no distant future the resultant usurpation of the constitutional prerogative of the High Court incidental to the majority decision will be reversed,” the court decided.
