Ghana’s Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang Manu has been under fire in the last few days over the brouhaha on the purchase of the Sputnik Vaccines.
From the onset, the health minister stated there was no wrongdoing in his purchase of the Covid vaccine.
But a commission set up by parliament seems to have proven otherwise that there are indeed elements of corruption in the agreement the Health Minister went with the vaccine providers.
How can you buy a vaccine for $19 whiles the ex-factory price is US$10.00 #AgyemanManuMustGo pic.twitter.com/iFFbplFiue
— TEIN-STU (@Teinstu) August 9, 2021
The ad hoc committee set up by Parliament to probe the procurement of Sputnik vaccines, has revealed that the Health Minister paid 50% of the contract sum to Messrs Al Maktoum before appearing before them to answer questions.
The committee has discovered that the government had paid $2,850,000 of $5,700,000 in the controversial Sputnik vaccine deal but denied knowledge of any payment when he testified under oath before the ad hoc Committee.
The deal with Sheikh Al Maktoum was meant to purchase 3.4 million doses of the vaccine but Mr. Agyeman-Manu told the parliamentary committee that “to the best of my knowledge, we haven’t done any payment, although the Sheikh had supplied the country an initial 15,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines, on Wednesday, March 3.
His explanation for entering into such an international agreement without parliamentary and cabinet approval despite the Attorney-General’s prior warning was that he was desperate to save Ghanaians from the covid-19 pandemic.
was in a desperate and helpless situation with the management of the Covid numbers. In February [this year], we had 78 deaths; by March, we had 56 deaths, and these were the numbers that pushed me to act.
“…if you were the Health Minister, I think you might have taken certain decisions that in hindsight you may not have done those things. The country was not in normal times,” Mr. Agyeman-Manu told the committee.
The committee however disagreed with the minister, saying: “The Committee is of the opinion that even if the situation in the country at the time the Agreement was signed was that of an emergency, due process of law should have been followed because Parliament would have treated the issue with the urgency it deserved and the appropriate action would have been taken accordingly. The Agreement would have been taken under certificate of urgency in accordance with the Standing Orders and the practices of the House.
Since then, many individuals are asking for the dismissal and even prosecution of minister Kwaku Agyemang Manu.
His sack has been topping Twitter trends with a Twitter user saying the Health Minister who also serves as the MP for Dormaa Central is a threat to Ghana’s health security for not doing due diligence in the purchase of the vaccine.
This guy should have been behinds bars by now. He is simply a threat to our Health Security. #AgyemanManuMustGo pic.twitter.com/xDI3Q5zTC4
— Passionate Blessing 🇬🇭🙏 (@brevity2020) August 9, 2021
President @NAkufoAddo, when a man confesses in camera, in public, and in front of legislators of having a problem in thinking straight, it is called madness. Such person becomes a national security threat. #AgyemanManuMustGo pic.twitter.com/umkXajCVlr
— Anthony Egan (@tonyeghan) August 9, 2021
$2.850m Can Build Many Factories For The Suffering Jobless Youth,To Get Job,Npp n Ndc Supporters,Corruption Is Killing n Destroying Our Country Ghana,So It Time We The Youth Come Together,Put Pressure On Our Govt Officials To Fight n Stop Corruption#AgyemanManuMustGo pic.twitter.com/IbwxG95iFd
— Big Daddy Cee (@BigDaddyCee7) August 9, 2021
In a very serious country, this man should have by now secured a bail awaiting his trial.#AgyemanManuMustGo pic.twitter.com/myni8Nr0Lt
— THE DEMOCRAT (@kofibrownn) August 9, 2021
Source: TheBBCghana.Com
