• Lawyer Martin Kpebu says Kwaku Agyeman-Manu was not candid to the nine-member ad-hoc committee
• He insisted that the embattled minister committed perjury
• Kpebu said Ghana could not have had the vaccine without any money
Lawyer Martin Kpebu says revelations by the embattled health minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu during the nine-member parliamentary ad-hoc committee probe shows that the minister was not being candid with the committee.
According to him, there is no way Ghana could have had the Sputnik V vaccine, which was in short supply, without any money being bad.
He explained, “Vaccines in short supply, you can’t be a serious buyer when you don’t have money and this minister is having us believe that Sheikh Al Maktoum didn’t have the money. So, on what basis was he calling the Sheikh that please bring vaccines, bring vaccines when the Sheikh hadn’t received money, frankly, that was a lie.
“So, for me, once he didn’t make much; he didn’t disclose that he had asked that cash be paid and the cash was paid on April 13, and it was this cash that then gave in the bargaining power to make a demand for the vaccines.”
“Because I mean, who born dog, can you ask for vaccines when you’ve not paid; when the vaccine is in such a short supply, can you imagine?” Martin Kpebu quizzed on Newsfile on Joy News.
Mr Kpebu further reiterated that, when an official constantly lies under oath or gives an incomplete it is perjury according to the laws of Ghana.
Background
Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Health Minister, in his quest to get Ghanaians vaccinated against the novel Coronavirus engaged the services of the Private Office of Sheikh Al Maktoum for the supply of the Sputnik V vaccines. Ghana had already taken delivery of 20,000 out of an expected 300,000 doses.
Sheikh Al Maktoum was paid $2,850,000 for his services out of an expected $5,700,000.
The Sheikh in the letter obtained by GhanaWeb also indicated that no funds had been drawn under the Letter of Credit which expired as of June 2021.
He is also expecting a payment receipt once the funds are credited to the government bank account.
The refund is minus the cost of 20,000 doses ($380,000) supplied by the businessman.
Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, decided to refund the money following a request from the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who is at the moment on a two-week leave.
The supply of the vaccines hit a snag, leading to the termination of the agreement between the businessman and Ghana’s Ministry of Health in July this year.
At a nine-member parliamentary ad-hoc committee probe on the issue, the embattled Health Minister admitted to entering into the contract with the Dubai Sheikh, without parliamentary approval.
He indicated that he approved the purchase of US$64.6 million contracts for the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia, out of the exigencies of the time.
That act by the Minister, who is a former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, violated the requirement of Article 181 (5) of the 1992 constitution.
The minister explained that the goal was to get vaccines to save the lives of the people by hook or crook, and planned to move to seek formal parliamentary processes thereafter.
But the nine-member ad-hoc committee report indicated that the health minister failed in seeking parliamentary approval, regardless of the pressure at the time and that could not substitute due provisions enshrined in the constitution.
Meanwhile, several civil society organisations, pressure groups, and individuals have expressed disgust over the revelations on the deal, calling for the head of the minister.