Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil
•Kofi Bentil wants Kwaku Agyeman-Manu fired as Minister for Health
•He reckons the breaches committed by the minister in the procurement of Sputnik V vaccines are unpardonable
•He also wants investigations into other deals entered into by Agyeman-Manu
The under-fire Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu continues to suffer public criticism for the perceived shoddy job done by him in the purchase of the Sputnik V vaccines from an intermediary by the name Sheikh Al – Maktoum.
His confession of unilaterally negotiating the deal without recourse to Cabinet, Parliament and the Public Procurement Authority rules and conclusions by the Parliamentary committee that probed the deal has placed him in a corner where he is at the receiving end of condemnations from unhappy Ghanaians.
The latest to add to such scathing attacks on the Health Minister is the Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil who has in no certain terms condemned the actions of the minister.
Kofi Bentil was shocked by the sheer disregard for the law in the pursuit of the vaccines and wondered what his motivation could have been for the minister to act in the way he did.
“This [deal] went on with no approval from Parliament from the Ministerial level, no technical person was part of this multi-million international deal which had to do with a very serious product [vaccines] needed in a time of a pandemic. Nothing is as serious as this,” he said.
“If we gave an illiterate trader a sovereign backing and said go and buy vaccines for the country, they would have done a better job,” he said on Joy FM.
Kofi Benti also called for his dismissal and appealed for further investigations into deals under the watch of Agyeman-Manu.
“I honestly don’t think that resignation is the issue. Again, we need to find out how this was possible, how many of such things have happened and you need to plug whatever holes there are,” he said.
Kofi Bentil also criticized the parliamentary committee for not recommending further probing of other deals.
“The Committee looking at this without any recommendation is serious malfeasance. This is extremely embarrassing. It is a situation you see in places where there is no government.
“I don’t know how any committee could have looked at this and not asked for a total systemic check of how all these checks and balances broke down. And I don’t know why the Minister is still in office,” he added.