Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta
• Sammy Gyamfi is calling for the head of the Finance Minister
• He accused the minister of breaching the procurement process in securing the Sputnik V vaccines
• He has called on parliament to probe government’s COVID-19 expenses
The Communications officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has called for the resignation of the finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
According to him, the health minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, should not be the only one being pressured to bow out of office following the controversies surrounding the procurement of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines from a middleman.
In a Facebook post sighted by GhanaWeb, Sammy Gyamfi pointed that the finance minister paid 160 billion old Ghana cedis to the middleman (Sheikh Al Maktoum) without parliamentary approval.
He said both the health and finance ministers need to resign.
“Why are we over-concentrating on the Health Minister in the discussion about the botched Sputnik Vaccine Supply deal when the chief culprit is none other than the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, who without Parliamentary approval, paid a whopping 160 billion old Ghana cedis to the Dubai Sheikh,” Sammy Gyamfi wrote in his Facebook post.
“…The reckless conduct of Ken Ofori-Atta in paying millions of Ghana cedis for an unlawful Vaccine Supply contract makes it imperative that Parliament immediately conducts a bi-partisan probe into the entire government expenditure on COVID-19 and related matters. But even before that,#KenOforiAttaMustResign,” he added.
Sammy Gyamfi has therefore called on parliament to conduct a bi-partisan probe into government’s expenditure on COVID-19.
Background
Government of Ghana through the health ministry tasked a middleman in Dubai to help secure the Russian Sputnik V vaccines.
Sheikh Al Maktoum presented 20,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine for the first batch instead of the initial 300,000 doses.
The contract was later terminated following several controversies.
In June this year, the health minister admitted that he independently approved the purchase of a $64.6 million contract out of frustration.
Meanwhile, there are calls for him to resign or President Akufo-Addo sacks him from office.