Eddie Annan is K’bu "mafia" Kingpin – Senior staff

There is no “money-making mafia” at Ghana’s largest teaching and referral hospital, say its senior staff, who are rather accusing the recently-resigned board chair, Eddie Annan–who made the allegation–of being the kingpin of the same mafia he warned the President about in his resignation letter.

Annan advised the President to smoke out the “mafia” at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as part of efforts to sanitise Africa’s third largest health facility.

The 91-year-old, 2000-bed facility has constantly been in the news for mismanagement, financial malfeasance and staff agitation.

A recent confrontation between senior staff and management over the purchase of some luxury vehicles, as well as financial mismanagement, led to a shake-up in leadership, sparking a wave of resignations from the board. Both Annan and acting CEO, Rev Okpoti Botchwey, resigned from the Board in less than 24 hours, following an intervention from the President in the rumpus.

Before his resignation from the Board, Botchwey had been dismissed by former Health Minister Sherry Ayittey, but was shortly re-appointed by Ayittey’s successor, Dr Kweku Agyemang-Mensah–whose nullification of his predecessor’s directive–was also overturned by President John Mahama, who almost immediately replaced the Reverend Minister with a new acting CEO.

It is these events that led to Annan’s resignation and admonishing to the President to flush out the anti-change mafia at the hospital.

However, the senior staff say Annan rather must be investigated as former Board Chair for instituting the very money-making mafia he has warned the President about, if any such bloc does exist at the hospital.

Secretary to the Association, James Clifford Oblitey, told Joy FM on Saturday that Annan “rather instituted all those things.”