Parliament Has Enough Processes To Handle Sputnik V Vaccines Deal—Yeboah Dame
Godfred Dame, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, has indicated that he will not distract Parliament’s probe into the botched Sputnik V vaccine deal and believes the House has enough processes to handle the issue.
“I do not intend to prejudice the work of Parliament on the issue since I gave an opinion on it and I believe Parliament has not exhausted its processes and will be dealt with so I do not want to prejudice the work of the House in any way,” he stressed.
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, faced intense criticism after an ad hoc committee of Parliament concluded he entered into the Sputnik V vaccines deal without approval from relevant institutions and recommended the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta took steps to recover $2.4 million paid to Sheikh Al Maktoum for undelivered vaccines.
He admitted that he did not seek cabinet and parliamentary approval before engaging a private individual for procurement of Sputnik V vaccines when he appeared before the bi-partisan committee.
However, in response to a letter from Mr Agyemang-Manu requesting refund agreed to pay the money to the government according to documents sighted, other groups and individuals have asked the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to initiate criminal proceedings against the embattled minister.
But Mr Ofori-Atta jumped to the defense of Mr Agyeman-Manu, as calls for his resignation deepened over the deal and asked Ghanaians to be sympathetic despite efforts of Mr Agyeman-Manu to secure vaccines for the country when the lives of citizens were at stake.
As Ghana struggled to reach its target of vaccinating 20 million citizens, it emerged the government was using services of middlemen to procure 3.4 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines but at a higher cost of $19 than the original factory price of $10 which prompted calls for abrogation of the procurement contract.
The company that agreed to supply Ghana with the overpriced Sputnik V vaccines has terminated the contract it had with the country, according to Mr Agyeman-Manu.
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