The Minority Caucus in Parliament has accused the government of attempting to manufacture a non-existent US$85 million debt in the ongoing Afari Military Hospital project, describing the alleged demand as a “criminal” attempt to drain the public purse.

Addressing the media in Parliament on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, the Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee and former Deputy Defence Minister, Kofi Amankwa-Manu, dismissed claims by Deputy Defence Minister Ernest Brogya Genfi that the contractor, Euroget De-Invest (EDI), requires US$85 million before returning to site.

According to him, official records from the Ministry of Defence’s Project Implementation Unit (PIU) show that the 500-bed military hospital was significantly advanced under the previous administration and that the financial obligations to the contractor had largely been settled.

He stated that as of September 2024, the core hospital facility was 92.5 percent complete, adding that by January 2025, the overall completion rate of the project had reached 98 percent.

Amankwa-Manu outlined the status of the completed works as of September 2024, indicating that civil works on the core hospital stood at 97.5 percent, architectural works at 87 percent, staff housing facilities at 77 percent, while roads and landscaping were 80 percent and 77 percent complete, respectively.

Rejecting the alleged US$85 million demand, he said there was no record at either the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Defence to support such a claim.

“The financial facts are clear. The original contract sum of US$180 million under the loan agreement has been fully paid. The additional US$19.3 million provided by the Government of Ghana due to delays occasioned by the NDC’s relocations has also been fully paid,” he stated.

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He further explained that a later claim of over US$6.5 million submitted by the contractor was negotiated down to US$3 million, of which US$2.5 million had already been paid, leaving an outstanding balance of only US$500,000.

“To move from an outstanding balance of US$500,000 to a sudden demand for US$85 million is not just mathematically absurd; it is criminal,” he stressed.

The Minority also blamed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for delays in the project’s early stages, explaining that although the project was initially awarded in 2008 under former President John Agyekum Kufuor for construction at Sofoline in Kumasi, subsequent changes in location under the NDC administration delayed its execution.

According to Amankwa-Manu, the project was moved from Sofoline to Tamale, then to Accra, before eventually being relocated to Afari, causing a six-year delay and resulting in additional claims by the contractor.

He claimed that by December 2016, when the NDC left office, the project was only 40 percent complete despite physical construction having begun in 2014.

He argued that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration advanced the project from 40 percent completion to 98 percent by January 2025 and questioned claims that the previous government had neglected the project.

While reiterating the Minority’s support for the completion and operationalisation of the Afari Military Hospital to serve personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces and residents of the Ashanti Region, Amankwa-Manu warned against any payment of what he described as a newly created and unjustified US$85 million liability.

He maintained that any such payment would amount to what he termed a “create, loot and share” scheme and pledged that the Minority would resist any move that did not guarantee value for money.

The Minority is therefore demanding that the government settle the remaining US$500,000 owed to the contractor and ensure that the final two per cent of work on the facility is completed without further delay.

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