Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, Minority Chief Whip
• Muntaka is of the view that the health minister is mocking Ghanaians
• He said, as the chairman for PAC, he surcharged public officials who do not follow procurement processes
• He said the health minister lied when he told the committee that he had no idea of the 50% negotiated money paid
Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, Minority Chief Whip, says the health minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu is mocking Ghanaians over his actions which saw the country paying 50 per cent of some ‘overpriced’ Sputnik V vaccine.
Muntaka explained on Joy FM, “Are they not making a mockery of all of us? I mean, with the greatest of respect, even the common trader in Makola or Kejetia market will tell you that when they want to buy things abroad, they would rather raise letters of credit so that when the person pays, the person is assured that his or her money is held, so that upon delivery, pays the money.
Now we have a government system that goes ahead to pay money when they’ve not received the product and now they are telling the private individual to return the money. This strengthens our belief that the health minister is deliberately acting.”
He indicated that Kwaku Agyeman-Manu as the Chairman for Public Accounts Committee surcharged public agency heads and individuals from government institutions “for failing to adhere to procurement practices” so, he as the health minister “knew everything he was doing. He is exactly knowledgeable about everything he was doing.”
Muntaka Mohammed further stated: “The Minister of Health is a very Senior Member of Parliament, he has been Deputy Minister, he is a Chartered Accountant, He has Chaired our Public Accounts Committee and later he became the Chair for four years… they’ve surcharged public agency heads and individuals… to refund money in some instances recommended for them to be prosecuted.
The 20,000 Sputnik V vaccines, when was it received? Where was it stored? Where was it administered? Where is it as we even speak? We didn’t find answers to that” so, he [health minister] claiming that he had no idea that the money has been paid is “an absolute lie”.
“If they are claiming that so far as his knowledge was concerned, he was not aware it was paid, then that opens us more for further investigations on who authorized the Ministry of Finance to make the payment, why didn’t the Ministry of Finance follow through to ensure the documentations were right? Why did the Bank of Ghana move ahead to transfer the money,” he asked.
A letter has emerged following the revelation by the nine-member parliamentary ad hoc committee that some 50 per cent of the negotiated amount has been by the Ministry of Health to Sheikh Al Maktoum. The letter is requesting a refund of the money paid for the non-supplied doses of the Sputnik V vaccines.
In the letter, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu wrote, “by this letter, I also wish to formally request for the refund of the remaining amount for the non-supplied doses, which should be the total amount paid to your office, minus the amount due for the 20,000 doses you already supplied, in line with your earlier e-mail dated 25th July, 2021, in which it was affirmed that on the 13th April, 2021, funds were transferred into your accounts as fifty per cent (50%) advance for the initial batch of 300,000 doses.”
