Former Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong has threatened to release documents alleging that members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) sold Agenda 111 hospital contracts to themselves and collected kickbacks. The outspoken politician made the claims after NPP MPs toured the Afari Military Hospital and criticised the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) government for delays in completing the project and other Agenda 111 facilities.
In a video circulated on YouTube, Agyapong argued that corruption and contract sales—not systemic failures—are the real obstacles to completing the Agenda 111 programme. His accusations focused on two key issues: inflated costs, with hospital projects estimated at about $16.88 million each; and kickbacks and subletting, alleging that some contractors resold projects while pocketing 10 percent of the contract value. Indeed, he goes on, “NPP party people approached my wife with an offer to give her one such contract for 11% kickback.”
Former Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong has threatened to release documents alleging that members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) sold Agenda 111 hospital contracts to themselves and collected kickbacks. The outspoken politician made the claims after NPP MPs toured the Afari Military Hospital and criticized the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) government for delays in completing the project and other Agenda 111 facilities.
In a video circulated on YouTube, Agyapong argued that corruption and contract sales—not systemic failures—are the real obstacles to completing the Agenda 111 programme. His accusations focused on two key issues: inflated costs, with hospital projects estimated at about $16.88 million each; and kickbacks and subletting, alleging that some contractors resold projects while pocketing 10 percent of the contract value.
The project dates back to earlier administrations, with conceptual work beginning under former President John Agyekum Kufuor. Construction officially commenced in March 2014 during the first administration of President John Dramani Mahama, with an initial completion target set for 2016. Here we are, in 2026, ten solid years after the completion target date, and we are still being told it is 98% complete. Kennedy Agyapong is insisting that the delay is the result of corruption.
Anticipating the backlash from the party for this public exposure, he has warned the NPP party to stop targeting him, or he will reveal how these internal practices caused the projects to fail. And here is where I come in. Must Ghana wait till Kennedy Agyapong gets angry enough to spill his beans? Haven’t we, as a nation, suffered too much already from the effects of kickbacks and contract sum inflation?
Are we not angered enough by these disclosures to task the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), among others, to invite Kennedy Agyepong to “spill the beans” now, including the names of those who approached his wife with the offer?
Will this call ever be heeded? Ghanaians are being treated like the masses in George Orwell’s fictional country, Oceania, in his book, ‘1984’. To a victim of state torture, the torturer said, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”
That’s powerlessness. Social Psychologists say it leads to a state of alienation. And that is how Ghanaians are being made to feel under our democracy. We are living in a state where the words of the masses, no matter how loud they shout, do not matter. As I write, I feel a sense of alienation, a certain hopelessness resulting from knowing that Ken Agyapong will never be invited.
The rich, the influential and the mighty will never be punished for crimes committed against the state, no matter how long I or any other concerned Ghanaian writes – unless the exposure and agitation for probity emanate from a source close to political power. An example is the 2012 Woyome GH¢51.2 million judgment debt scandal.
It took the same Kennedy Agyapong, at that time as an MP, shouting from within the power structure, to get the state to act. Even in that capacity, Kennedy Agyapong endured legal battles, including a contempt case. The repeated rhetoric by a vociferous MP amplified public anger and kept the scandal in the headlines.
We are helpless; the masses have no voice, no real power, the only exception being what we exercise on election day. Once in power, however, the masses can go hang. To consolidate their hold on power and to secure their future, the politician will amass wealth through inflated contracts, very well assured that even if the scandal is discovered, the system will protect them.
Why don’t we dare Kennedy Agyapong!
Source: Enimil Ashon
