The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has rejected claims that the Afari Military Hospital is only about 60 per cent complete, insisting that official records show the 500-bed facility reached 98 per cent completion by January 2025.

In a statement released on June 16 and signed by Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Co-Chair of the NPP Policy Committee on Health, the party also disputed claims that the government requires US$85 million before work on the project can resume, maintaining that available records show only US$500,000 remains outstanding to the contractor.

The statement, issued by the party's Policy Secretariat, said the NPP had taken notice of recent public comments on the Afari Military Hospital, including remarks attributed to some of its senior members.

It said the party shared the desire to see the project completed and operational without delay and considered it necessary to present what it described as the documented facts.

"The Party shares the wish that this important facility be completed and brought into service without delay. In that spirit, and in the interest of accuracy, the Party wishes to place the documented record before the public," the statement said.

The party rejected suggestions that the hospital is at a partial stage of construction, describing such claims as inaccurate.

"The Afari Military Hospital is a 500-bed facility, and it is not at a partial stage of construction," it said.

According to the NPP, official records from the Project Implementation Unit of the Ministry of Defence show that the core hospital was 92.5 percent complete as of September 2024, while overall completion reached 98 percent by January 2025.

It said claims that the facility is around 60 percent complete are false.

The statement further indicated that as of September 2024, civil works on the core hospital stood at 97.5 percent, architectural works at 87 percent, support facilities, including staff housing, at 77 percent overall, roads at 80 percent and landscaping at 77 percent.

"What remains is the completion of a small balance of work, not a fresh construction effort," the statement added.

The NPP also challenged claims by government officials that a payment in the region of US$85 million is required before construction can resume.

It said there is "no record at the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Defence to support a claim of that size."

According to the statement, the original contract sum of US$180 million, financed through a loan, has been paid in full.

It added that a negotiated additional sum of US$19.3 million, paid by the Government of Ghana to cover delays arising from earlier relocations of the project, has also been settled in full.

The statement further explained that a separate contractor's claim, originally above US$6.5 million but negotiated down to US$3 million, has largely been paid, with US$2.5 million already settled.

"On the available records, the only amount outstanding to the contractor is US$500,000," it said.

Providing a history of the project, the NPP said the hospital was first contracted in 2008 for a site at Sofoline in Kumasi. It was later relocated more than once before settling at Afari, while physical construction commenced in 2014.

According to the statement, the project stood at about 40 percent completion as of December 2016.

It said the hospital progressed from roughly 40 per cent completion in 2017 to 98 per cent by January 2025.

"Any suggestion that no work was done over the eight years to January 2025 is therefore false. The record shows the opposite, with the facility moving from 40 percent to near completion over that period."

The NPP said it was presenting the project's history "not to apportion blame but to give the public an accurate account of how the project reached its present state."

The party reiterated that it wants the Afari Military Hospital completed and operational to serve the Ghana Armed Forces and residents of the Ashanti Region.

"The outstanding US$500,000 should be settled, the remaining works completed, and any new figure presented for payment supported by verifiable records before public funds are committed," it stated.

The statement also reminded senior members of the party that their public comments should be based on facts and reflect the party's agreed position.

"The Party holds its senior members in high regard, and their voices carry weight with the public and the media. For that reason, the Party reminds all senior figures that public commentary made as leading members of the Party should rest on the facts and reflect the agreed position of the Party."

It added that where a member disagrees, "the proper course is to raise the matter through the Party's own channels, where it can be tested against the record, rather than to air it in terms the facts do not support."