The Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, is known for his tough-talking approach to many issues but over the past two decades, he has also carved a niche for being one of the most generous politicians in the country.
The tough-talking legislator has through his charitable deeds shown that he is not just all talk but also committed to contributing financially to solve some problems across the country.
Mr Agyapong has over the years made contributions to various sectors of the country including; security, religion, education and healthcare. He has also retained a longstanding interest in caring for the less privileged.
Graphic Online recalls five moments when Mr Agyapong, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Interior surprised Ghanaians with his generosity.
Cardiothoracic centre at the 37 Military Hospital
On Tuesday, June 2021, the 60-year-old was in the headlines for perhaps his single-largest financial donation when he donated GH¢1.2 million for the construction of an 80-bed cardiothoracic centre at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.
Upon completion, the facility will become the second after the National Cardiothoracic Centre (NCC) at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the only cardio centre serving the country and other African countries.
COVID-19 support to hospitals
At the beginning of the outbreak of the Coronavirusin March last year, Mr Agyapong, the then Chairman of the Committee on Local Government donated a number of items, valued at GH¢680,000 to the National Security for onward distribution to health institutions to fight the pandemic.
The items included; 250 hospital beds, 100 gallons of sanitisers, and 20,000 face masks, a number of hand gloves and other personal protective equipment.
The items were to be distributed to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra and all the other public hospitals at the regional capitals.
Making the presentation, Mr Agyapong said the country should not be ravaged by the disease, and the donation was his widow’s mite to help in the fight against the disease and its transmission.
The Assin Central MP appealed to all with the wherewithal, corporate institutions to support in the fight against the disease.
Rescuing stranded Ghanaians in Lebanon
In August last year, Agyapong,s presented $428,650 to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to support the evacuation of more than 700 stranded Ghanaians in Lebanon.
Mr Agyapong contributed $200,000 himself, while he mobilised the rest through an appeal he launched for other Ghanaians to support the initiative.
The support was to help cover the evacuation of the Ghanaians who were stranded in that country as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the presentation event last Wednesday, Mr Agyapong said: “It is not in everything that we expect the white man to save us or take care of for us. We need to prove that we are capable of managing our own affairs.”
St. Francis Xavier Hospital, Assin Fosu
In June 2019, Mr Agyapong donated a whopping sum of GH¢50,000 to the St. Francis Xavier Hospital at Assin Fosu to aid in the completion of their maternity ward.
Adisadel College NSMQ reward
In June 2018, Mr Agyapong dipped into his pockets again, this time to hand students of his alma mater St Adisadel College a reward for finishing third in that year’s National Science and Maths Quiz.