Kufuor Foundation Boss To Agyeman-Manu: Help President By Resigning

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah, has advised the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu to resign from his position over his scandalous perjury before Parliament in regards to the botched Sputnik V vaccine deal.

Prof. Agyeman-Duah points out that the uproarious public calls for his resignation should be a clear indication to the Minister that the time has come to take a bow so the President’s work is made easier.

“After all is said and done, my point is still clear. I think the minister should help the president by voluntarily withdrawing,” Prof Agyeman-Duah, who is also a former Associate Executive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), said.

He added: “There is so much pressure has being exerted towards his resignation or his firing, so it tells a lot, and by that alone, he (Agyeman-Manu) needs to take the pressure off the president.”

The call by the man who heads Ex-President Kuffuor’s foundation is yet another voice in the chorus demanding that the Health Minister steps down.

The call from Kufour’s Foundation also means that the rival section in the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) may have had enough of the scores of serious scandals committed under the auspices of President Akufo Addo who heads the other faction-the “Akyem Mafia faction” in the NPP.

Kwaku Agyemang-Manu had arranged for a third party company whose name is not exactly known save for the fact that it is owned by an Emirati royal, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, to supply Ghana the Sputnik V vaccine for immunization against the coronavirus disease at almost double the price the Russians were supplying.

While the Russians supplied at USD10 per vaccine, Sheikh Al Maktoum’s amorphous company was going to supply at USD19 per vaccine.

And the Health Minister had made the deal without recourse to Parliament or Cabinet. Mr. Agyemang Manu would later explain that he took that course of action because he felt getting the vaccines for Ghanaians was urgent.

However, the deal ultimately fell through and no disaster really happened to justify his emergency arguments – in other words, the end did not justify the means.

His conduct led to parliament setting up a Committee to probe the whole affair and when Agyemang-Manu was invited, he told Parliament that his Ministry had not paid a dime to Sheik Al Maktoum’s amorphous company.

However, as it was to turn out later, the Health Ministry had paid 50% of the contract sum to the company. The Health Minister himself was also the one who wrote to the company for a refund.

Now the pressure has mounted on him to either resign or for the President to fire him. However, his party, the NPP has come to his defense.

Deputy Majority Leader, Afenyo Markins, has said the Committee which probed the matter, chaired by his good self, did not find that the Health Minister had perjured himself.