ASEPA Demands Prosecution Of Health Minister Over Sputnik V Shady Deal

Pressure group, Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) is asking for the prosecution of Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, following findings by an ad-hoc committee of Parliament that his arrangement to have Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, supplied to Ghana through intermediaries was not above board.

In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Mensah Thompson, the ASEPA called on the Attorney General to initiate investigations and possible prosecution, warning it will be forced to lodge a complaint if the AG does not heed.

“In respect of theviolations of our laws, there are clear sanctions that must be activated in accordance with the law, in respect of this we are giving the Attorney General a 48-hour ultimatum, to initiate Criminal Investigations and Prosecution against the Minister for Health and all other persons involved in this shady procurement or ASEPA will take the matter up and file an official complaint with the CID,” ASEPA wrote. 

ASEPA’s demand is coming in the wake of a hashtag campaign #AgyemangManuMustGo, which is demanding the dismissal of the Health Minister.

An ad-hoc committee put together to investigate the Health Minister’s decision to purchase the Sputnik V vaccines through intermediaries, Messrs Al Maktoum, concluded that the Health Minister’s earlier claim that the government had not paid the company any money was false.

According to the revelation, the Health Minister paid some 50% of the contract amount even though Al Maktoum did not supply the vaccines in the end.

But more curious is the fact that the Health Minister had arranged to buy the vaccine at US$19 per vaccine even though the Russian government was selling it out at US$10 per vaccine.

Mr. Agyemang Manu had also arranged without recourse to Parliament which is required to approve every deal that the country has with any offshore company. The Health Minister’s justification was that the vaccine was needed urgently. 

And then, he told Parliament to assuage the effect that the government had not paid a dime to Messrs Al Maktoum. But that turned out to be untrue after a probe by an ad-hoc committee.

According to ASEPA, the recommendation by the ad hoc committee to retrieve any monies given to intermediaries in the procurement of the Sputnik V vaccines should be followed with the prosecution of the Health Minister. “Even though we commend the committee for the work done, we believe the work of the Committee and its resultant report wasn’t particularly thorough.

“The adverse findings made by the Committee are already issues civil society, experts and well-meaning Ghanaian have already raised in the public domain. Our limitation was that we lacked the powers to recommend appropriate sanctions against the Minister in respect of the glaring violations of our laws and that’s why a committee was set up to investigate the matter and make appropriate recommendations,” said ASEPA.

“Retrieval of monies paid to Sheikh for the failed procurement is an un-compromising formality and that cannot be the end to this matter,” it added.