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NDC Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi says President Nana Akufo-Addo's pledge to construct 88 district and 6 Regional hospitals in the country is nothing but a "fake promise". 

President Nana Akufo-Addo, delivering his 8th update on the COVID-19 pandemic, identified some deficiencies in the health sector and as a result assured Ghanaians that his administration will set up ninety-four hospitals in a year.

"We will, this year, begin constructing eighty-eight (88) hospitals in the districts without hospitals. It will mean ten (10) in Ashanti, nine (9) in Volta, nine (9) in Central, eight (8) in Eastern, seven (7) in Greater Accra, seven (7) in Upper East, five (5) in Northern, five (5) in Oti, five (5) in Upper West, five (5) in Bono, four (4) in Western North, four (4) in Western, three (3) in Ahafo, three (3) in Savannah, two (2) in Bono East, and two (2) in North East Regions. Each of them will be a quality, standard-design, one hundred bed hospital, with accommodation for doctors, nurses and other health workers, and the intention is to complete them within a year. We have also put in place plans for the construction of six (6) new regional hospitals in the six (6) new regions, and the rehabilitation of the EffiaNkwanta Hospital, in Sekondi, which is the regional hospital of the Western Region. We are going to beef up our existing laboratories and establish new ones across every region for testing. We will establish three (3) infectious disease control centres for each of the zones of our country, i.e. Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern, with the overall objective of setting up a Ghana Centre for Disease Control," he stated. 

But Sammy Gyamfi believes the President is throwing dust in the eyes of Ghanaians.

Speaking in a panel discussion on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Sammy Gyamfi urged Ghanaians to treat the President's pledge with the contempt it deserves claiming "Akufo-Addo is the only President in the history of Ghana who hasn't established a single hospital in the nation."

Listen to him in the video below



He further revealed that the President's promise is not something new and that he captured it in the NPP's 2016 manifesto, hence repackaging it to Ghanaians as a new challenge which has arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The impression is being created that this is a new vision . . . This promise is not a new vision or a new policy direction that President Akufo-Addo has now discovered. It is an old promise that he made to Ghanaians in 2016 to win the election and he has failed Ghanaians. And knowing that we are getting close to the general elections and that he will lose, he has gone back to recycle that broken promise to deceive Ghanaians because he thinks that Ghanaians have short memories. So, it is just a rehash of one of his several broken promises," Sammy Gyamfi pointed out.

According to the NDC Communications Officer, the President is unashamedly lying to the citizenry. 

"This promise made by President Akufo-Addo is a grand deception calculated for votes and not intended to be kept. President Akufo-Addo has realized that he has failed Ghanaians. He couldn't utilize the power given him about four years now for development especially in the health sector regarding the health of Ghanaians. He has failed Ghanaians woefully but he has realized this year is an election year and is more concerned about deceiving the people to win their votes. The first point I want to make and make very forcefully is this promise is an absolute lie...The President doesn't have any good intention to put it into good use," he accentuated.

Sammy Gyamfi wants the Akufo-Addo government to note that this year, "it is not about talk. It is not about promises . . . This year's election is comparison of records", and he was cocksure ''Ghanaians will reject this fake promise''.