Minority calls for complete investigation in COVID-19 expenditure
Health Minister welcomes idea of COVID expenditure probe
Parliament commences debate on 2022 budget
The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, has welcomed the Minority’s call for an investigation into the expenditure of COVID-19 funds as he has nothing to hide.
According to him, his attempt to procure COVID-19 vaccine for the country has left his reputation in tatters.
Speaking on the floor of parliament during the debate on the 2022 budget, the health minister said, “Hon Akandoh is asking for a complete investigation into COVID expenditures because they are material and we would get investigations into that matter.”
The minister was indicted by a parliamentary ad hoc committee during a probe of his procurement of Sputnik V Vaccines from Russia without parliamentary approval.
The Committee revealed that Kwaku Agyeman-Manu breached Ghana’s procurement laws to procure some 300,000 overpriced Russian Sputnik V vaccines from middlemen from UAE.
The committee was of the opinion that even if the situation in the country, at the time the agreement was signed, was that of an emergency, due process of law should have been followed because Parliament would have treated the issue with the urgency it deserved and the appropriate action taken accordingly.
It, however, recommended that, in future, any such transaction, whether local or international, should be subjected to broader stakeholder consultations and taken through due process of law, including parliamentary approval.
It’s based on this the minister said his reputation has been tattered.