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Minister of Health, Dr. Kwaku Agyemang Manu
Public Health Physician and member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has charged the Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Agyemang Manu, to resign from his post following alleged procurement breaches in the Sputnik V contract.
Dr Jehu Appiah, who admits the behaviour of the Minister of Health cannot be defended because he (Dr Kwaku Agyemang Manu) before his appointment gave all the indication that he was not fit for purpose.
“We can’t defend the Minister for this lapse in judgement. From the very beginning, Kwaku Agyemang Manu gave us all indications that he was not ready to be Minister. He told us he was tired, and it also took the President to expose him when he lied to us about contracting COVID-19. Looking at all this, why still make him Minister, and now he has caused this Sputnik V scandal.”
According to Dr Appiah, it has now been proven otherwise that the Minister lied under oath when he said no payment was made in the Sputnik V vaccine procurement.
Speaking to Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning show aired on e.TV Ghana and Happy98.9FM, he said, “He swore an oath, and from what has come to light, it looks like his earlier statement was a lie. I disagree with those calling for his sack. He should be the one to say the work is too much for him and resign.”
He expressed his surprise at all those defending the Health Minister when it is clear he had breached procurement processes. To him, if the Minister has a conscience, he will quietly resign for lying to Ghanaians rather than wait for the President to take such an action.
“Someone asked me if he should be fired or resign, and I said I don’t know. But if what goes into appointing a Minister is still what we know it to be, then he should resign on his own. He should say ‘thank you, I am tired’ and bow out of office. The defence that he paid no money for the deal is lame. Do they mean to say the over $2.8 million paid was conjured,” he asked.
His comments come after the Parliamentary Committee that was tasked to probe the contract said in its final report that Agyemang-Manu should have contacted and engaged with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health on the Sputnik V contract even if it was an emergency situation.
The Committee, in its final report, said, “The point must also be made that, even if it was an emergency, the Minister should have found time to communicate effectively and engage with the Committee on Health.
“The extensive engagement would have saved the Ministry from the negative reactions from the citizenry and some Members of Parliament.”
Mr Agyemang-Manu earlier admitted before the Committee that he did not do due diligence before contracting with the private office of one Emirati Sheikh, H.H Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, for 3.4 million doses of Sputnik V at a unit cost of $19.
“Those were not normal times, and I was seriously in a situation that didn’t make me think properly, the way you think that now I will actually abreast myself with the situation”, he told the Committee Monday, July 19.
The deal was uncovered by a Norwegian journalist, Markus Tobiassen, who works with tabloid Vergens Gan, to have been inflated by some $9, citing the ex-factory price of the vaccine as $10.
The Minister said the whole deal was reached out of desperation and frustration on the part of his office, the reason he did not seek parliamentary approval for the international transaction as is required under Article 181 (5) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
“February, 78, March 56, there were the numbers, and if you, any of us here were the Health Minister at the time, I think you might have taken certain decisions that on hindsight or going forward you may not have done those things This was the environment that I found myself in. Out of desperation, frustration, so many things and people were dying we needed to protect our citizens.”
The Parliamentary Investigative Committee has therefore recommended that the Finance Ministry takes steps to recover the money to the state in respect of an amount of US$2,850,000.00 (Cedi equivalent of GH¢16,331,640.00) being the cost of the Sputnik-V vaccines that were proposed to be procured.
The Committee says it found that the Ministry of Health did not seek approval from the Board of PPA under Sections 40 and 41 of Act 663 before signing the Agreements.
The Ministry, however, applied for ratification under Section 90(3) (c) of the Act, which has still not been granted.
The Committee also found that PPA has not concluded its investigations into the matter.
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