The Deputy Minister for Finance, Dr John Kumah, has dismissed claims that the funding for Agenda 111 will be taken from the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF).

According to him, GIIF is only a vehicle for mobilising funds for the Agenda 111 project which is aimed at improving health care delivery in the country.

Speaking on Joy News' The Probe he said, “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.”

The Health Infrastructure account, he explained, houses the funding for Agenda 111 and will be managed by the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund.

Dr Kumah said that any funds raised for Agenda 111 will go into that account and will be disbursed for the project through GIIF.

His comment comes after some Ghanaians raised concerns about the funding for Agenda 111.

The Minority in numerous instances accused government of spending GH¢636 million on the project even before its launch.

Ranking Member on the Health Committee in Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said the Minority will push for further investigations into the expenditure.

However, Dr Kumah says that currently, the Health Infrastructure account contains the infamous GH¢600 million government was accused of spending on the project prior to its launch.

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," he added.

He restated that so far, only GH¢36 million cedis has been spent on the project. 

That money, he said, went into the project designs, land acquisition, consultants and coordinators.

On funding, he said that the 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,” he added.

Agenda 111

The government on Tuesday, August 17, launched its ambitious Agenda 111 policy.

The project will cover the design, procurement, construction, equipping and commissioning of 101 District Hospitals, 6 Regional Hospitals in newly created regions, as well as 1 Regional Hospital in the Western Region, 2 Psychiatric Hospitals in Kumasi and Tamale and a redeveloped Accra Psychiatric Hospital.

President Akufo-Addo together with some government officials broke grounds for the commencement of the project at Trede in the Ashanti Region.

The project when completed in 18 months, will deliver to each underserved district, a world-class health facility capable of attending to all major ailments.

The project is to ensure that Ghanaians nationwide have access to quality healthcare services and with the National Health Insurance Scheme, boost the provision of healthcare infrastructure and financial accessibility to healthcare.

Doctors, nurses and other health personnel will have accommodation in the hospitals to be constructed.

According to the Agenda 111 detailed document, the facilities that will be enjoyed by Ghanaians include, 4 state-of-the-art surgical theatres for maternity, obstetrics and gynaecology, a full complement of male, female, pediatric and isolation wards, among others.

According to government, on completion, the venture will be “the largest investment in Healthcare infrastructure in the country since independence.”