Amid ongoing national discussions surrounding the stalled commissioning of the Weija-Gbawe Hospital, an old video of former Health Minister Bernard Okoe Boye has resurfaced online.

In the video, sighted by GhanaWeb on May 8, 2026, Dr Okoe Boye, during an interview on Channel One TV, bluntly denied claims that there had been any misprocurement of goods related to the hospital project.

According to the former minister, he did not come across any term such as “misprocurement” in the World Bank letter.

He further stated that claims suggesting that prices for key items under the contract were between three and eleven times the market rate were unfamiliar to him.

'Okoe Boye overpaid the contractor, he should keep quiet'! - Akandoh

“The World Bank is raising issues… There’s no misprocurement. In fact, when I checked the English word, I didn’t even find it. It doesn’t exist. It was built through a World Bank facility, and the cost was $14 million. In fact, it is one of the cheapest hospitals in terms of value for money that we have ever built.

“And then you come and say equipment costs 11 times more. Have you seen any document telling you that? How much was the equipment, and what is the market price? You see, all these are excuses,” he said.

Dr Okoe Boye further explained why the hospital, under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, was not operationalised despite its completion.

According to him, the hospital was not commissioned because the Akufo-Addo administration wanted to fully recruit health personnel and ensure the facility was operational before its inauguration.

He also stated that certification processes relating to the hospital were still ongoing, which contributed to the delay in operationalising the facility before the change in government.

“Only two things made it impossible for me to commission it. We decided after our first step that we would not commission a health facility unless it was operationalised. There were occasions where we commissioned facilities because they had been handed over, but people later went there, took videos, and claimed the facilities had been commissioned six months earlier without functioning.

“So, we took a decision that we would only commission facilities that were operationalised. Operationalised means we had nurses there, doctors there, and the facility was functioning. The only reason why we did not commission these facilities was that we needed time to complete recruitment into the Ghana Health Service and make the necessary allocations,” he added.

Meanwhile, a letter from the World Bank dated September 1, 2025, indicated that there had been deviations from the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations in the procurement and implementation of the reviewed contracts.

According to the document, the Procurement Post Review (PPR) found that prices charged for most key items under the contract ranged from three to eleven times the prevailing market rates.

Watch the video below:

Why was the Weija Children’s Hospital not operationalised under the NPP administration despite completion?

Former Health Minister Dr. @OkoeBoye explains on #Whatthepaperaresaying with @SelormAdonoo.

Watch more here: https://t.co/bKrPVS0k8x#WhatthePapersAreSaying… pic.twitter.com/mFUOWsuBAb

— CITI FM 97.3 (@Citi973) May 7, 2026