Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Health Minister has broken his long silence over the controversy surrounding his role in the botched Sputnik-V vaccines deal.
In his first press release since the brouhaha in the failed procurement of the said vaccines from Sheikh Al-Maktoum, the under fire minister empathized that his interest to protect the national kitty is unalloyed.
He stated that in all his life as a Deputy Minister, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and now as a minister, “I have been guided by the mandated to protect the public purse at all times and as minister of health to also safeguard Ghanaian lives especially during this pandemic.”
According to the statement dated August 9, 2021, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum has refunded the sum of $2,470,000 back to the National Treasury stressing that the money is now available to the Health Ministry for the purpose of purchasing the much-needed vaccines to meet the President’s target of 20 million vaccinations by the end of the year.
“I would like to assure the general public that the Ministry of Health is working assiduously to access vaccines to enable vaccinations to be administered to the public. That is the surest way to win the battle against Covid-19,” he stated in his press release.
While thanking Ghanaians for their support in the matter assured you that “together we will defeat the virus of Covid-19.”
The minister has over the past days been under attack from the general public and civil society groups calling for his sack/resignation after the details of the botched Sputnik-V vaccine were revealed to the public.
According to the report by the ad hoc committee set up to investigate the botched deal, it was revealed that the Minister had breached every procurement process and constitutional requirements about the contract.
Mr. Alexander Afenyo-Markin Member of Parliament for Efutu in the Central Region has been a staunch supporter of the embattled MP urging on the House not to hang the MP out to dry.
A group in support of the MP has also emerged against calls for his sack by the president.
Currently, the Minister is on a two-week leave expected to resume this week.
Earlier, rumors were rife on social media that the Minister has rather been fired instead of being on the said two-week leave.
Source Kofi Yirenkyi