Director of Operations for the Fixing the Country Movement, Hopeson Adorye
A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Director of Operations for the Fixing the Country Movement Hopeson Adorye, has indicated it makes no sense for anyone to equate the botched Sputnik-V vaccine deal to the Airbus scandal.
He was responding to questions over their plan to petition Special Prosecutor to have former President John Dramani Mahama investigated in his alleged role in the Airbus scandal.
He was asked if he would agree with people who want Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu to be prosecuted in the botched deal.
The parliamentary committee that probed the matter on the Covid-19 botched vaccine deal established that an amount of GH¢16,331,640 had been made, contrary to the Minister’s assertion that “to the best of my knowledge, we haven’t done any payment”.
“The Committee found that the amount of $2,850,000.00 (representing 50% of the contract sum of $5,700,000.00) has been paid to Messrs Al Maktoum and this translates into the cedi equivalent of GH¢16,331,640.00 converted at the then prevailing exchange rate of US$1 to ¢5.73 whereas the Minister said he had no knowledge of payment under oath,” the report revealed.
In the said letters copied to the Health and Finance Ministries, a Letter of Credit (LC) to the tune of $2,850,000 was established with the funds subsequently transferred by the Central Bank between March and April this year to the Private Office of the Dubai-based supplier for the jabs.
This was three months before Mr. Agyeman-Manu’s appearance before the 9-member Parliamentary Committee, where he denied knowledge of any payments to that effect.
Some individuals demanded the removal of the Minister from office and possible prosecution.
But Hopeson Adorye believes such a call is needless because the Minister acted in good faith, and Ghana was under an emergency health crisis.
“You cannot equate the botched Sputnik-V vaccine deal to the Airbus scandal. Other interested persons could also take up the matter,” he said.
He referred to the parliamentary committee probe and quizzed what their recommendation on the matter was.
He said the constitution grants the Health Minister the power to take decisions on emergency cases and then rectify them later in parliament.
“Coronavirus was killing people in Ghana, and we were facing challenges, and so if you equal it with the Airbus scandal, then that is not fair. If you want to take up the matter, you also have the right to do so,” he added.