{"id":111187,"date":"2026-01-15T08:49:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T08:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=111187"},"modified":"2026-01-15T08:49:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T08:49:05","slug":"complete-agenda-111-projects-despite-audit-issues-dr-zaato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=111187","title":{"rendered":"Complete Agenda 111 projects despite audit issues \u2013 Dr Zaato"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 6 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Political scientist and senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Joshua Zaato, has urged the government not to abandon the stalled Agenda 111 hospital projects, despite the financial irregularities uncovered by the Ghana Audit Service.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the AM Show, Dr Zaato argued that while persons found culpable must be punished and public funds retrieved, the policy itself should not be sacrificed, stressing that completing the hospitals would significantly improve healthcare delivery and create jobs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBy all means, retrieve the money, punish the perpetrators, but reinvest that money into completing this,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we wake up one day and realise that these hospitals are completed, healthcare delivery in this country will massively improve.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

His comments follow revelations by the Ghana Audit Service that it has issued a surcharge against 35 contractors to recover $7.9 million, equivalent to about GH\u00a294.6 million, over unexecuted or poorly executed works under the Agenda 111 initiative.<\/p>\n

According to the audit report, the contractors were paid mobilisation fees to work on 19 hospital sites. Out of the $11.16 million disbursed, the companies executed work valued at only $5.96 million. An additional $4.35 million was paid to 11 companies which completed inception works valued at just $2.49 million, leaving $1.92 million unaccounted for before their contracts were terminated.<\/p>\n

Some of the contractors, the report said, failed to move to the site after receiving payments, while others completed less than 10 per cent of the value of the sums they received between December 2021 and December 2024.<\/p>\n

Despite the controversy, Dr Zaato believes completing the hospitals remains critical to Ghana\u2019s healthcare system and employment drive.<\/p>\n

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\u201cRight now, there are thousands of nurses waiting to be posted. If we finish these projects, we can post them there\u2014and that is what job creation is,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He added that many allied health professionals across the country are also unemployed and would benefit directly from the operationalisation of the facilities.<\/p>\n

Dr Zaato further pointed out that many Ghanaians continue to travel long distances to access basic healthcare services, a situation he believes could be drastically improved if the Agenda 111 hospitals are completed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy point is, let\u2019s not sacrifice the policy. It doesn\u2019t matter where it comes from,\u201d he said, emphasising Ghana\u2019s history of policy continuity despite political transitions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Agenda 111, launched by the previous government, aimed to construct district hospitals, regional hospitals, and specialised facilities across the country to bridge gaps in healthcare access.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"CompletePolitical scientist and senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Joshua Zaato, has urged the government not to abandon the stalled Agenda 111 hospital projects, despite the financial irregularities uncovered by the Ghana Audit Service.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the AM Show, Dr Zaato argued that while persons found culpable must be punished and public funds retrieved, the policy itself should not be sacrificed, stressing that completing the hospitals would significantly improve healthcare delivery and create jobs.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[941,1883,10,9,11536],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agenda-111","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-zaato"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}