NDC Caught In $85m Afari “Loot & Share” Plot

The Minority in Parliament has launched a blistering attack on the government over claims that an additional US$85 million is needed to complete the Afari Military Hospital, describing the figure as a “fabricated crisis” designed to siphon public funds.

According to the Minority, the contractor handling the project is owed only US$500,000, not the whopping US$85 million being cited by government officials.

Addressing a press conference in Parliament, Deputy Ranking Member on the Defence and Interior Committee, Kofi Amankwa-Manu, accused the NDC administration of attempting to revive what he called the notorious “Create, Loot and Share” scheme.

“Any attempt to secretly pay this newly created and unjustified US$85 million can only be described by the popular Ghanaian phrase: ‘Create, Loot and Share,’” he charged.

“We will protect the public purse. Government must abandon this fraudulent US$85 million demand, pay the outstanding US$500,000, and ensure the contractor completes the remaining 2% of the project without delay,” he added.

His comments follow claims by Deputy Defence Minister Ernest Brogya Genfi that the contractor, Euroget De-Invest (EDI), was demanding US$85 million before returning to the site.

But Mr Amankwa-Manu dismissed the assertion as completely false.

“The Deputy Minister’s claim is a manufactured crisis. There is no record at either the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Defence to support this outrageous US$85 million figure,” he stated.

He explained that the project’s original US$180 million contract, financed through a loan arrangement, had already been paid in full.

Mr Amankwa-Manu further disclosed that an additional US$19.3 million negotiated to cover project-related delays had also been fully settled.

According to him, a later claim of more than US$6.5 million was negotiated down to US$3 million, out of which US$2.5 million has already been paid.

“The only outstanding amount owed to the contractor is US$500,000,” he stressed.

Mr Amankwa-Manu questioned how a debt of half a million dollars had suddenly ballooned into a US$85 million demand, stating, “To move from US$500,000 to US$85 million is not only mathematically absurd—it is criminal”.

He vowed that the Minority will fiercely oppose any attempt to approve or pay what it considers an unjustified claim.

Blames NDC for Project Delays

Mr Amankwa-Manu also pushed back against claims that NPP governments neglected the Afari Military Hospital project, insisting that the real cause of the delays was the NDC’s handling of the project after taking office in 2009.

He described attempts to blame past administrations as misleading, arguing that the Afari Hospital saga is a clear example of what he called NDC mismanagement.

According to him, the project was awarded in 2008 under former President John Agyekum Kufuor and was originally planned for Sofoline in Kumasi.

However, he alleged that after assuming power, the NDC repeatedly changed the project’s location, first to Tamale, then Accra, before finally settling on Afari.

“The constant relocation of the project caused a six-year delay and led to massive cost implications. The contractor eventually demanded an additional US$36 million, although this was later negotiated down to US$19.3 million,” he claimed.

Mr. Amankwa-Manu further stated that despite spending eight years in office, the NDC made little progress on the facility.

“When the NDC left office in December 2016, the project was only 40 per cent complete, even though physical construction had started in 2014,” he said.

He credited NPP administration with accelerating work on the hospital after taking over in 2017.

“It was the NPP government that moved the project from 40 per cent completion to 98 per cent by January 2025. Ghanaians must ask themselves: who really delayed this project?” he queried.