Member of Parliament for Builsa South Dr. Clement Apaak
The Member of Parliament for Builsa South Dr. Clement Apaak has called for the dismissal and prosecution of Health and Finance Ministers Kwaku Agyeman-Manu and Ken Ofori-Atta respectively over the botched Sputnik-V vaccine agreement.
The legislator said the Health Minister cannot be held liable alone for the breach considering that the payment was made by the Finance Minister.
The ad-hoc committee of Parliament that probed the contract agreements for the purchase and supply of Sputnik-V vaccines has directed the Minister for Finance to take steps to recover an amount of GH¢16.3 million paid to Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum.
The amount the committee stated includes the cost of Sputnik-V vaccines that the Ministry of Health paid to Sheik Al Maktoum, a member of the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates, in Dubai.
The Sheikh had served as the middleman for the procurement.
“The Committee urges the Minister for Finance to take steps to recover the money due the Republic in respect of the 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 said.
It added: “We found that the amount of $2.85 million, representing 50 per cent of the contract sum of $5.7 million, has been paid to Messrs Al Maktoum and this translates into the cedi equivalent of GH¢16.3 million converted at the then prevailing exchange rate of US$1 to GH¢5.73 whereas the minister said he did not know about payment under oath.”
After the report was released, some persons have called for the head of the Health Minister because they believe he breached our laws and failed to seek approval.
However, the legislator says the Health Minister should not be the only one to be punished.
He wants the Fiance Minister to also lose his job and be prosecuted for the breach done.
He argued that the Health Minister did not act alone in the matter and should be the only person to suffer.
“Sputnik-V scandal-sack, prosecute Health and Finance Ministers. Heath Minister broke the law by ignoring parliament etc but how come Finance Minister paid 16m without evidence of delivery of the vaccines? Health Minister didn’t pay or recommend any payment, Finance Minister paid, on what basis did he pay?”
He stressed, both Ministers must resign or be sacked, and prosecuted.