Ahiagbah to Mahama: “Crack the Whip” and Open Completed Hospitals to Ease KATH Overcrowding

NPP Communications Director Richard Ahiagbah has called on President John Mahama to intervene after members of Parliament’s Health Committee were reportedly blocked from inspecting the Afari Military Hospital, warning that locked, completed hospitals are worsening pressure on the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

In a statement titled _“Why Is President Mahama Letting Mr. Akandoh Toy With Our Lives?”_, Ahiagbah said healthcare is “not an NDC or NPP matter; it is a matter of life and death.” He wrote from personal experience with Ghana’s health system, praising doctors, nurses and allied health staff as “angels in human form.”

Obstruction of Parliamentary Oversight

Ahiagbah expressed shock at the reported obstruction of the Health Committee at Afari Military Hospital.

“Parliament’s oversight responsibility is a constitutional mandate, not a privilege granted at the whim of the Executive,” he stated. “At a time when the recent crisis at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has exposed the immense pressure on our healthcare delivery, one would expect the government to embrace transparency and be sensitive to public sentiment rather than upset it.”

He questioned the government’s motive: “What exactly is the government trying to achieve with that obstruction?”

KATH Crisis and Minister’s Response

Referencing recent events at KATH, Ahiagbah said the facility is “buckling under severe overcrowding and structural constraints” with medical staff “working at the absolute limits of available infrastructure.”

He criticized Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh for directing “frustration and blame at the very professionals managing the pressure on his behalf,” calling the response “insensitive and deeply misguided.”

“If the objective is to save lives, attacking those tasked with saving them cannot be the solution. President Mahama should have immediately called his Minister to order,” he added.

Completed Hospitals Still Locked

Ahiagbah argued the pressure on KATH “did not arise overnight” and pointed to health infrastructure projects initiated under the previous NPP administration in Ashanti Region:

1. 500-bed Afari Military Hospital
2. Ashanti Regional Hospital at Sewua
3. District Hospitals at Trede and Kokoben

“Together, these facilities represent nearly 1,000 additional hospital beds. They were built for a singular purpose: to expand healthcare access and permanently relieve the burden on KATH. Yet today, despite being substantially completed, they remain locked, empty, and unavailable to the people they were built to serve,” he wrote.

“The question Ghanaians must ask President Mahama is simple: If KATH is overwhelmed, why are these hospitals not operational?”

Call to Action
Ahiagbah said doctors and nurses cannot compensate for “completed hospitals that are locked away behind political red tape.” He described the situation as “a glaring failure of leadership, empathy, and urgency.”

He urged President Mahama to act immediately to:
1. Operationalize the Trede and Kokoben District Hospitals and the Ashanti Regional Hospital at Sewua.
2. Provide final resources required to fully commission the Afari Military Hospital.

“The remedy to overcrowded hospitals is not outrage directed at healthcare workers. It is not political grandstanding. And it certainly is not the obstruction of parliamentary oversight,” he wrote. “The answer is leadership. The answer is accountability. The answer is sensitivity. The answer is, Mr. President, crack the whip.”

“Until that happens, every future crisis at KATH will stand as a grim reminder that this NDC-Mahama government is failing to deploy available state resources to protect the health and lives of Ghanaians,” Ahiagbah concluded.