Minister of Health Proceeds On Two-Week Leave

The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has been granted a two-week leave to enable him to attend to some personal issues.

Earlier reports suggested that the minister had resigned from his position, but this claim has been debunked by persons close to Agyeman-Manu.

The Health Minister has come under intense criticism for breaching procurement processes while trying to secure Sputnik V vaccines for Ghana.

He signed an agreement without parliamentary or cabinet approvals. He also did not seek approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA). The Attorney General is on record to have advised against the deal.

The Minority in Parliament last week called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to immediately dismiss the Minister of Health saying he is not fit to be in office. They argue that he violated the 1992 constitution and his oath of office by trying to procure vaccines through middlemen without recourse to Parliament or cabinet.

“It is beyond any reasonable doubt the minister betrayed his oath of office and for that matter, and he also failed to uphold the constitution and the laws of our country.”

“I must say that the Minister should be sanctioned. He must be removed by the president. He is not fit to occupy the office of a minister of state and must therefore be removed from office henceforth, failing which this House must pass a vote of censure on the minister,” said minority chief whip, Muntaka Mubarak.

They also took the minister on over his claim that no payment was made in the deal when the committee’s finding pointed to the fact that money was actually paid.

Meanwhile, the intermediary businessman, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, from who Ghana was procuring the vaccine, has agreed to refund $2.4 million of the $2.8 million paid to him as he only supplied 20,000 doses of the expected 300,000 before the contract was terminated.

 

According to CitiNews, the Health Minister began the leave granted by the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, last week.

Background

It emerged from the investigations conducted by a nine-member ad-hoc parliamentary committee that the country paid $2.8 million to Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum in the terminated Sputnik V vaccine procurement deal.

The revelation by the committee is contrary to the information divulged to the Public Accounts Committee when Mr Agyeman-Manu, appeared before them to respond to questions on the deal.

Mr Agyeman-Manu, under oath, told the committee that no money had been paid to the intermediary who had supplied 20,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to aid the country’s vaccination exercise.

However, per the 28-page report of the committee, 50% of the $5,700,000 owed to the Sheikh had been paid as of March 31, 2021.

“According to the Bank of Ghana in its letter of 31st March 2021, out of the total amount of $5,700,000.00 owed to Sheikh Al Maktoum, an amount of $2,850,000.00 representing 50% has been paid to him and that translates into a cedi equivalent of GH¢16,331,640.00 converted at the exchange rate of US$1 to GH¢5.73,” the report stated.

In its report, the committee explained that the procurement and supply of the Sputnik-V COVID-19 vaccine was an international agreement.

As such, it required prior parliamentary approval to come into operation, in accordance with Article 181(5) of the 1992 Constitution.

Nonetheless, the committee found that the Ministry of Health (MoH) did not seek approval from the board of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), under sections 40 and 41 of Act 663, before signing the agreements.

Additionally, the committee found that MoH did not comply with the requirements of Article 181(5) of the Constitution in respect of its agreement with an intermediary, in this case, Sheikh Al Maktoum.

However, the ministry applied for ratification under Section 90(3) (c) of the act, which had also not been granted.

The probe by the committee further disclosed that aside from the $19 agreed price of the vaccine under the ministry’s agreement with Al Maktoum, there was another $18.50 per dose agreement with S. L. Global.

The S. L. Global, was originally $26 per dose, as against the ex-factory price of the Sputnik-V vaccine of $10, the finding noted.

“The minister explained that the prices achieved under the two agreements included the cost of documentation, shipping, packaging, logistics and expenses in relation to transportation of the vaccine from its place of origin to Ghana,” it said.

The report noted that the ministry entered into the two agreements without Cabinet approval but only based on a ministerial decision, with regard to the advice of the COVID-19 Emergency Operating Committee.

In all, the government paid $2.8 million for 20,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine from the Sheikh.

Recommendations and public debate

Based on its findings, the committee asked the Minister of Finance to “take steps to recover the money due to the Republic in respect of US$2,850,000 (cedi equivalent of GH¢16,331,640), being the cost of the Sputnik-V vaccine that was proposed to be procured.”

It also recommended that in the future, any such transaction, be it local or international, should be subjected to broader stakeholder consultations and taken through due process of law, including parliamentary approval.

The controversy generated by the committee finding has prompted certain influential persons among the general public to express concern.

Both the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul-Malik Kweku Baako and private legal practitioner and sociopolitical commentator, Martin Kpebu, called for the resignation of the Minister of Health.