The Minority in Parliament has raised red flags about what it described as a serious anomaly in the 2023 Budget with respect to the expenditure on the government’s Agenda 111 projects.
No budgetary allocation has been made for the project in the budget of the Ministry of Health.
Minority spokesperson and Ranking Member of the Health Committee Kwabena Mintah Akandoh marvelled at the fact that the government has failed to budget for the much-touted Agenda 111 projects, many of which should be nearing completion by now.
Addressing the media in Parliament on Thursday, December 1, Mr. Akandoh disclosed that in various budgets of the government since 2021, allocations had been made for Agenda 111.
He said, “In the 2021 mid-year review budget, it was said that GH¢600 million had been released in the name of Agenda 111. In the 2022 budget on page 250 about GH¢518 have been released.”
“Recently, the Minister of Finance submitted a letter to the Committee set up to probe the COVID expenditure, in which it was stated again that about GH¢763 million has been released.”
According to the Ranking, these releases sum up to GH¢1.9 billion, and yet not a single hospital has been completed in the name of Agenda 111.
He stated that a careful perusal of the 2023 Budget indicates there is no allocation for the Agenda 111 hospital projects at all.
Mr. Akandoh argued a desperate attempt by a deputy Minister to provide a response further exposed the government when he claimed the allocation is under the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA).
He stressed, however, that this assertion could not be correct because in the 2022 Budget while there was an allocation for health infrastructure with regards to ABFA, there was another allocation specifically for Agenda 111.
Mr. Akandoh argued that if an allocation has been made for health infrastructure under ABFA for 2023, another allocation should specifically have been made for Agenda 111 projects, especially when the ABFA allocation for health infrastructure is a paltry GH¢100 million.
He said, “In their own 2022 budget, the projections they made to allocate to 2023 was more than GH¢600. All these figures are in this budget.”
He challenged the government to state where the Agenda 111 hospital projects in progress can be located and the Minority will follow up and confirm their existence.
Mr. Akandoh warned that with expenditure on the project unaccounted for, the Minority will reject the Health Ministry’s 2023 budget until the Minister accounts for the GH¢1.9 billion allocated to Agenda 111.
