Ghana’s Interior Minister, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, has announced the termination of a long-delayed contract for the construction of the Police Hospital, citing alleged overpayments exceeding £40 million and serious irregularities uncovered through forensic audits.
Speaking in an interview with Kwasi Pratt Jnr on Pan Africa TV monitored by Kumasi Mail, Mr Mubarak described the state of the project as alarming and questioned how critical national infrastructure could remain incomplete after more than two decades.
According to the minister, the hospital was intended to become one of Ghana’s major emergency medical centres, similar to 37 Military Hospital.
He said the project was initiated in 2003, with actual construction beginning in 2006, but remains unfinished despite millions of pounds already paid to contractors.
“To my ultimate shock, I came into office and realised that this hospital is still not completed,” he said.
Mr Mubarak revealed that efforts to retrieve official contract documents initially proved unsuccessful, raising suspicions about the handling of the project.
“The ministry could not find copies of the contract. The police could not find copies. The Ministry of Finance did not have copies. Even the Attorney General could not find copies,” he stated.
He said officials were later directed to search the national archives, but discovered that files relating to the International Hospital project were empty.
The minister explained that his suspicions deepened after representatives of a British company linked to the project repeatedly requested meetings despite the absence of official documentation.
According to him, a breakthrough came after he discovered correspondence from the Finance Ministry referencing a forensic audit approved by Cabinet in 2015.
Mr Mubarak said he subsequently contacted PricewaterhouseCoopers to obtain a copy of the audit report, which allegedly found that the contractor, International Hospitals Group, had been overpaid by approximately £40 million.
The report, he said, recommended that the government recover the excess payments and terminate the contract.
He further disclosed that a second forensic audit commissioned by Cabinet in 2023 and conducted by Crown Agents reached similar conclusions, with estimates suggesting the overpayment may exceed £40 million.
According to the minister, then Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam also advised the Interior Ministry to terminate the agreement.
Mr Mubarak said he subsequently sought legal advice from the Attorney General before formally terminating the contract and presenting the matter before Cabinet.
“Cabinet approved the termination, approved the process for retrieving the overpayment, and also approved the re-award and completion of the facility,” he said.
He added that President John Dramani Mahama supported the decision, insisting that the government had “had enough” of the prolonged delays and financial losses.
The Interior Minister disclosed that the original project was estimated to cost £17 million for a 10-storey facility when it was initiated in 2003.
However, authenticated documents available to his office indicate that approximately £57 million had already been paid by the time the contract was terminated, despite the hospital remaining incomplete.
He said contractors were subsequently demanding an additional £48 million to complete the project.
“I said this is literally — I don’t know how to call it — if it is not craziness,” he remarked.
Mr Mubarak noted that preliminary technical assessments by engineers suggest the remaining works on the site may cost no more than £5 million to complete.
He said the government would proceed cautiously because the matter could become the subject of legal action and recovery proceedings.
The minister stressed that completing the hospital remains a priority for government in order to improve healthcare access for police officers and other security personnel.
Source :www.kumasimail.com
