A wave of public concern is rising in the Ashanti Region as the Asante Youth Association challenges what they describe as politically motivated interference in public health leadership, following the dismissal of Prof. Otchere Addai Mensah as CEO of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).
The youth group has called on President John Mahama and the Minister of Health to immediately reverse the decision, arguing that Prof. Addai Mensah’s removal threatens to derail critical healthcare reforms underway at the region’s premier referral facility.
In a press briefing, Assistant President of the Association, Nana Oppong Boadi, accused the government of politicizing the health sector and undermining progress made under Addai Mensah’s leadership.
“Healthcare should not be a casualty of political gamesmanship,” Boadi said. “Prof. Addai Mensah transformed KATH with tangible results—expanding dialysis machines from two to twenty and spearheading the Heal Komfo Anokye Project with the backing of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.”
The group emphasized that Prof. Addai Mensah’s tenure, though only two and a half years long, had brought much-needed upgrades and restored public confidence in the institution’s capacity to serve the region.
The Asante Youth Association is demanding that the professor be allowed to complete his contract, which ends next year, to ensure continuity and completion of key infrastructure projects.
They also decried the trend of politicians traveling abroad for healthcare while local hospitals remain under-resourced, calling the situation “unjust and hypocritical.”
The group has threatened to embark on a mass protest if their demands are not met, signaling a growing wave of civic pressure on government accountability in the management of public institutions.
