Expect showdown if La General hospital is not captured in 2024 budget – Nii Lante Vanderpuye

Nii Lante Vanderpuye, the Chairman of the Greater Accra caucus of the Minority, has threatened that the group, along with residents of La and Ga Mashie, will stage a demonstration if the government fails to include funding for the La General Hospital in the 2024 budget.

Speaking in Parliament in Accra on Tuesday, he said, “I am assuring you that, if we don’t see it in the 2024 budget, we will not make the budget in this house come out. We will make sure that sitting will be disrupted until we see the La General Hospital captured in the budget. We will show you that you are on our land. This will be another showdown.”

“We will make sure that the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance will not enjoy the peace in their ministries. We are going to marshal the people of La and Ga Mashie to occupy your offices if you don’t work at the La General Hospital.”

Meanwhile, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Majority Leader in Parliament, has attributed the delay in reconstructing the La General Hospital in Accra to the withholding of funds by the facility’s sponsors.

In a statement to Parliament, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu explained that the sponsors withheld the funds following Ghana’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“Mr. Speaker, what has happened is that after the engagement with the IMF, funding from those sources that Parliament approved of, the funding has been withheld by the sponsors.”

“Mr. Speaker, until the nation is given a clean bill of health by the IMF, it is going to be difficult for the funding to be released. This is why the government now wants to situate it within the context of Agenda 111, and that will mean that the facility will have to be scaled down a bit,” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said.

The La General Hospital was demolished in July 2020 due to severe structural problems reported by the hospital’s administration.

President Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the commencement of construction of the La General Hospital Redevelopment Project on August 10, 2020, but work has yet to begin.