Minister for Health Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu should not be hanged out to dry, as he always puts the interest of Ghana above any other consideration, and that was what he did in his desire to purchase Sputnik V vaccines for Ghana.
The Minister was also honest with the Ad Hoc Committee of Parliament when he appeared before it to assist it in its task of investigating events prior to his agreement with some middlemen in his bid to purchase Sputnik V vaccines for the country.
These were the words of the Deputy Majority Leader of Ghana’s Parliament, Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, as he stood in the House on Friday to present the report of the nine-member Ad Hoc Committee set up by Ghana’s Parliament to probe into the controversial Sputnik V vaccine procurement deal.
Although Parliament deferred the approval of the report on Friday due to the controversy it generated in the House, Mr Afenyo-Markin, in his opening remarks during the presentation of the Committee’s report said, “the Health Minister was candid with us. Yes, there were issues but the underlying concern for the Minister was to save lives and we must commend him.”
The Deputy Majority Leader however said, Mr Agyeman-Manu erred in not sending the agreement to Parliament and urged the Health Minister to take note of that in his future dealings with such transactions.”
A member of the Committee, Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, who is also the Member of Parliament for Asante Akim Central, indicated that, there could not have been anything higher than “to save lives and the decision taken was a ministerial decision”.
He added that, the Health Minister did not personally make any payments to the suppliers, rather it was the Finance Ministry that made the payment and accordingly, the Committee report charged the Health Minister to team up with the Finance Minister, so that together, they take steps to recover the $2,850,000 expended towards the botched procurement of several doses of the Sputnik-V vaccines.
The Committee report also tasked the Health Minister, Mr Agyeman-Manu, to in future engage the Health Committee before committing to any deal regardless of the urgency of the situation.
It will be recalled that, as Ghana struggled to reach its target of vaccinating 20 million citizens, it emerged that, the government was using the services of middlemen to procure some 3.4 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccines.
However, this was said to be at a higher cost of $19 other than the originally known factory price of $10.
This development led to calls for the abrogation of the procurement contract.
The issue first came to light when a Norwegian news outlet, Verdens Gang, reported that, Ghana had requested to purchase the doses of the Sputnik V vaccine through two businessmen who are selling them to Ghana at an exorbitant price of $19 per dose instead of the $10 per dose on the international market
The initial price quoted for the vaccine was US$25, but it was negotiated downwards to US$19, according to credible information from the corridors of the Ghana Health Service.
The Minister of Health, Mr Agyeman-Manu, who is a Board Member of the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, admitted before the Committee that, he did not seek Cabinet and Parliamentary approvals before engaging the private individual for the procurement of Sputnik V vaccines when he appeared before the bi-partisan Parliamentary Committee.
He explained to the Committee that, as the Health Minister his mind and in fact, his whole being were captured by his burning desire to save lives by doing all in his power to procure the vaccines for Ghanaians.
Meanwhile, the Company that agreed to supply Ghana with the overpriced Sputnik V vaccines has terminated the contract it entered into with the country, the Health Minister, told the Committee.
