Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, Chairman of the Health Committee of Parliament
• Dr. Ayew Afriyie has urged the minority to seek information on vaccine procurement from parliament
•He indicated that the minority has run to the media which he believes will not yield any result
•The minority has called for a probe into the procurement of the Sputnik V vaccines
The Chairman of the Health Committee of Parliament, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, has said it is out of place for the minority in parliament to take their concerns on the procurement of the Sputnik-V vaccine to the media rather than the parliament.
The minority has raised concerns on the need to probe the procurement of Sputnik-V vaccines through a third party as well as the airport coronavirus testing agreement between Ghana and Frontiers Healthcare.
Speaking to Citi News, Dr. Afriyie said the Minority must make use of avenues in Parliament to have concerns addressed.
“The Minority knows what is right. They have all it takes to do whatever they want on this issue, but running to the public [through the media] to talk about a parliamentary inquiry is not the solution. For me, they could have just used questions, motions, and statements to get the Speaker to allow them. It is as if they don’t have confidence in the Speaker because any ruling on the floor will be done by the Speaker,” Dr. Ayew Afriyie said.
Mintah Akandoh
The Ranking Member on the Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, believes government owes Ghanaians, explanations on the airport coronavirus testing and Sputnik V procurement agreements.
“Why are we dealing with middlemen because, in the first statement that was released by the Ministry of Health, the explanation to that effect was that they have made several efforts including meeting the Deputy Ambassador of the Russian Embassy here in Ghana and that didn’t yield any fruit. Our checks indicate that there is no position like Deputy Ambassador of the Russian Embassy. So, they should be telling us who they spoke to,” Citi News has quoted him.
About the Sputnik-V deal brouhaha
It has emerged that Ghana used the services of middlemen to procure some of Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccines but at a higher cost of US$ 19 other than the original factory price of US$ 10.
This move has not gone done well with some stakeholders, including the Minority in Parliament which is calling for the abrogation of the procurement contract.