Minister of Health, Dr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu
Managing Editor of the Custodian Newspaper, Awudu Mahama has advised the Minister of Health, Dr. Kwaku Agyemang Manu to step down on his own accord after his Sputnik V procurement breaches.
He believes the Minister does not need to wait for the President to show him the way out nor does he need to wait for his name to be dragged further through the mud before deciding to leave office.
“If I were the Health Minister I would’ve resigned over what was going on. Sometimes you don’t resign because people are demanding it but you resign because of how you’re being portrayed. You do that to save your reputation and nothing more. These things are becoming too much. If I were him, I will save the President the pain of having to fire me and resign,” he stated.
According to Awudu Mahama, letters presented by the Minister to the committee which probed this procurement breaches were full of inconsistencies and that is why “many Ghanaians are calling for his resignation because they believe he didn’t handle the deal properly.”
In a discussion on the Happy Morning Show with Samuel Eshun, the editor noted that it would be impossible for anyone to prosecute the Minister because the money is being refunded. “He made procurement breaches alright but they have been rectified and he cannot be jailed.”
To him, the Minister decision to resign will lessen the burden on the President. “I am not foreseeing Dr. Kwaku Agyemang Manu being fired by the President. Even if he has to, he will have to gauge the political and national effects before doing so. Carlos Ahenkorah resigned after breaching COVID-19 protocols but it does not appear the Health Minister is ready to resign per his letter issued lately.”
He also advised the ruling party to immediately shape their communication around the matter so it does not affect them permanently.
Background
The Parliamentary Committee probing the controversial Sputnik V vaccines procurement contract has recommended that the Finance Ministry retrieves GH¢16,331,640 paid to Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum.
This amount is said to have been paid by government in the Health Ministry’s bid to procure the Russian vaccines through a middleman.
“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.
These are the conclusions of a 28-page report on the findings of the Ad-hoc Committee investigating the contract between government and Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum for the supply of Covid -19 vaccines.
The nine-member Committee also looked into the circumstances under which the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, entered into a deal with the Sheikh and S.L Global without seeking Parliamentary approval.
After the siting, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum also issued a letter saying he will repay the amount to the Ghanaian government.