Spokesperson for Ministry of Health, Tony Goodman has defended the Ministry’s statement on the delay in operationalisation of the Weija Paediatric Hospital which claimed that the opening of the hospital has stalled due to “misprocurement.”
According to him, the Ministry in its statement presented only the facts which have been justified and confirmed in a World Bank 2024 report on the project.
The Ministry in a statement on May 6, 2026 explaining the delay in opening the Hospital despite its completion said the hospital is a World Bank-funded project that began in 2023.
It continued that the World Bank had raised concerns over procurement irregularities, including instances where the cost of some medical equipment was allegedly inflated to as much as 11 times their actual value.
For this reason, the World Bank declined to settle outstanding payments related to the project, leading to a halt in its operationalisation.
However, following the explanation given by the Ministry, the contractor in charge of the project, Awerco Construction Limited have issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Health Ministry, demanding an immediate retraction and apology over the Ministry’s explanation concerning the project.
In a letter dated May 8, 2026, Awerco accused the Ministry of making “unfounded” allegations that have severely damaged their reputation.
According to the company, the primary reasons for the hospital’s stalled opening are the Ministry’s own financial defaults and technical oversights.
Awerco states it has fulfilled its contractual obligations but has not been paid for over a year. The contractor further asserts that the Ministry has consistently ignored official correspondence regarding these outstanding debts.
Reacting to the issues raised by Awerco in an interview on 3FM’s Hot Edition, Friday, May 8, 2026, Tony Goodman maintained that the Ministry has presented the truth of the matter, noting that there is nothing to retract.
He explained that the World Bank’s 2024 report affirms the issues raised by the Ministry.
“It is factual. Whatever we stated in that document is factual. The issue of going round discussing other issues is not the matter here.
“You have issued a statement claiming we should retract and you pointed to paragraph 2 and 4. And in paragraph 2, we referred to the statement from the World Bank saying that there were some procurement breaches and the prices of the equipment bought were above market prices, these are issues that are fact and there is a report from the World Bank justifying that,” he stated.
He added: “We are saying that what we have put out there are the facts. Are they disputing the fact or they want us to retract what we have put out that which is the fact?”
