Dr. Kwame Asah Asante, Senior Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon
A Senior Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr. Kwame Asah Asante has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo to be a man and gather courage to sack Health minister Hon. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu.
He warned that President’s failure to sack Hon. Agyeman-Manu will encourage other appointees to get involved in such scandal.
The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has come under intense criticism for breaching procurement processes while trying to secure Sputnik V vaccines for Ghana.
Agyeman-Manu confessed that he signed the agreement with the middlemen without parliamentary or cabinet approval. He also did not seek approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) prior to finalising the agreement with the middlemen, although the Attorney General is said on the record to have advised against the deal.
Pressure has since been mounting on the health minister to resign and be tried for perjury after it was revealed that the minister lied under oath when he appeared before the ad hoc Committee constituted by parliament to look into the Sputnik V procurement deal.
Kwaku Agyeman-Manu had admitted that he failed to follow the due processes in the deal, giving reasons that the urgency of the time was what held him back from doing so.
It however turned out that a 50% payment had actually been made to Sheikh Dalmook Al Maktoum even before he told the Committee that the ministry had not made any payment.
Eventually, a report by the Committee that investigated the case tasked the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to retrieve the said $2,850,000.
Reacting on the issue in an interview on Otec fm’s afternoon political talkshow dubbed ‘Dwabrem’ on Wednesday August 11, 2021, , Dr. Asah Asante explained to the programme’s host Dr. Cash that ”sacking the Health minister will serve as a deterrence to others and also make his pledge to protect the public purse a dream come through”.
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com
