Alfred Futuyo says some politicians have accused him of building the maternity ward with money meant for officials of defunct states such as Amadi, Maridi, and Tambura.

However, he moved to quell these rumors explaining that the maternity ward was constructed using revenues collected from nationals working with non-governmental organizations.

“It was said that the governor built this maternity ward with the money of the defunct states. I would like to say I was accused of building this maternity ward with the state’s money. They must prove it, or we will end this case in court,” said Governor Ftuyo.

“This maternity ward was built with the money of the state’s citizens who work in NGOs, not the state’s funds,

“We will upgrade Mundari and Muvplo Hospital into a general hospital. We will do this by saving one million pounds every month for six months and waiting for the national government to intervene.”

For his part, James Abdallah Aron, the state Minister of Health says the ward will help expectant mothers who travel long miles to the civil hospital to easily access antenatal care.

“The objective for the construction of this maternity hospital is to help the mothers instead of going to a civil hospital,” Abdallah said.

“The distance around Mundri west PCC the distance again from here to Bangulu is 65 miles and the distance here to Mbara is very far including Amadi,

“The challenges which face the community on the ground, the mothers and the parents that is why the community requested the state government to support them with this facility.”

Meanwhile, Rike Kene – one of the residents of Mundri West – expressed her happiness, describing the maternity ward as “magnificent”.

“I am very happy. I don’t even know how to express my happiness. Could it be that I have a child in my stomach, I could be the first person to deliver the baby today so I take this gift,” said Kene.

“It is unfortunate but those women coming to deliver, they should deliver with happiness. Thanks to our governor, he has done something good for the women here, when we are delivering, we should not deliver at home but in the hospital.”