A Memorandum of Understanding on a $217 million hospital, signed by the erstwhile Mahama government is not binding on the NPP government, a legal practitioner has said.

The lawyer who is also Sekondi MP Andrew Mercer explained the University of Ghana cannot claim ownership of the facility on the basis of the March 2015 MoU.

“An MOU has no binding effect whatsoever”, he said on Joy News AM Show Wednesday.

There is a tussle between the Health Ministry and the University of Ghana over the management of the facility which was constructed with a loan secured by the NDC government.

In 2015 when the project had advanced, the Health Ministry signed an MOU with the university authorities ceding ownership and management of the world-class medical center to the university.

Related: Battle over UG Medical Center needless- Kwaku Baako

The MOU also consigned the Health Ministry to a supervisory role, stating that two directors on the Board of Directors should come from the ministry.

But the Medical Centre has been under lock and key since its first phase was commissioned in 2017 because of the dispute over the ownership.

The now minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) has argued that the government should stay off the medical center and allow the MOU to work.

But Mr. Mercer of the Majority NPP disagrees. "Who says that government is bound by the MOU? It is not binding", the MP said.

He added that the Kwaku Agyeman Manu-led Health Ministry does not consider the arrangements in the MoU as “the best mode of managing the taxpayer-funded facility”.

“They are therefore going through the motions to alter it and a final decision has not been taken by cabinet”, he added.

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He also stated that the facility wasn’t completed before its commissioning by John Mahama in January 2017, three days to his handing over to President Akufo-Addo.

The MP said it beats his imagination why the NDC will create the impression that the government has left a ready-to-use facility to rot.

MP for Mion, Mohammed Abdul-Aziz, who was also on the show criticised the government for its inability to operate the facility because it has failed to secure $6million needed to get the hospital running.