Chairman of Parliament’s ad-hoc Committee that probed the botched Sputnik V vaccine procurement deal, Alexander Afenyo-Markin is holding the view that Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang Manu has not caused any financial loss to the state.
According to the Member of the Parliament (MP) for the Effutu constituency, although the Health Minister erred for not seeking Parliamentary and Cabinet approval in the deal to procure the Sputnik V vaccines through a third party in an international transaction, there is no law that implicates him for doing so.
Amid calls for the Minister to be sacked and made to face sanctions for allegedly causing financial loss to the state, Afenyo-Markin notes that the public needs to be educated and provided with the facts to understand the issues well.
“I have not read any statutes which say that failure to seek prior approval amounts to an offense.”
“There is no such law that I have read that implicates the Minister.”
“What I know is that when you do not seek prior approval, and you are subsequently advised and you verily believe same to be true, you go for ratification, and ratification of decisions is allowed by law.“
“Under the PPA act you are allowed to seek ratification, You can only talk about a breach when after PPA has conducted investigations and said it is unable to ratify a decision.”
“Much as the atmosphere is charged, we equally hold a duty to educate on the law. Beyond the political questions and answers are the realities of the law,” the MP told Citi News in an interview.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin shares the view that the Minister is on the receiving end of continuous backlash because the public does not have the full facts of the matter.According to him, Dr. Kwaku Agyemang Manu has become a victim of circumstance because some persons who ought to know better are intentionally twisting the narrative surrounding the deal with Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum to embarrass him [the Health Minister].
“Unfortunately Mr. Agyemang Manu has become a victim of circumstance and that is the price you pay when you come into public service.”
“It is expected. People can misconstrue you. The public has not received the full facts. People are twisting the story to embarrass him.”
“The point is that when he was referring to that figure, at the point in time, he was responding to questions on the government of Ghana sources, bear in mind that for bilateral sources there is no third-party distributor. So he said that on that score, he will not pay more than that,” he added.
While stressing that he does not want to create the impression that the NPP side of the committee is defending the Minister, Mr. Afenyo-Markin notes that he is ready to defend and deal with all mischief aimed at throwing the name of the Minister into the mud.
Source: Modern Ghana