Sputnik-V deal: Health Minister committed crime; he should be dismissed — Thomas Anaba

The Executive Director for the African Centre for Health Policy Research and Analysis, Dr. Thomas Anaba said the Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman Manu should be dismissed.

He said the findings of the committee of inquiry reveal that the sector minister committed a crime.

Speaking on Accra based Joy News, he stated that, the minister lied and committed perjury countless times when asked about the country’s dealings on Sputnik-V vaccine.

According to him, the Majority Caucus argument that the Minister’s actions did not cause any financial loss to the state does not hold any water.

He noted that the sector minister lied under oath that no amount of money was paid the middleman without Parliament’s approval.

“The position that they have reached a consensus is neither here nor there. The case is whether the gentleman, the minister committed perjury or not, whether he lied to the country or not and the truth is, he did. On several counts, we have seen that he deceived all of us. He, first of all, came out to say there was never an argument like that. He came out to say there was never money given out. He himself came out to confess that he was not having his head on his shoulders very well,” he intimated.

Dr. Anaba added that, for someone who has been the head of public procurement, the minister knew very well the implications when answering questions on the Sputnik V deal.

“If someone has gone against the constitution, public procurement act, who knew very well how the public procurement authority worked because he was the head of the accounts committee who drilled people who flouted the laws of this country so I don’t see why the majority or the general consensus should be something that will pardon the person.”

The Sputnik-V controversy began when a Norwegian newspaper, VG reported that, government had purchased 3.4 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines through a middleman.

The procurement was overpriced at $19 than the factory price of $10.

The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu earlier claimed that the state had made no payments however, later findings proved otherwise.

The Minority in Parliament, after the findings of the Parliamentary Committee, has set in motion, a vote of censure to remove the Health Minister from office.