President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has praised the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, for his tremendous contribution to Ghana’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing a gathering in the Bono Region during his two-day tour, Akufo-Addo said: “There are a lot of people from the Bono Region in my government, including the Health Minister, who is currently receiving slap from Ghanaians.
“He is an indigene from Dormaa. He has really suffered in that Health Ministry and he is still suffering.”
The president’s comment follows public calls for the minister to step down for breaching procurement rules in pursuing the botched Sputnik V vaccine contract.
Minister on leave
Meanwhile, Asaase Radio can confirm that on 28 July 2021 the Office of the President granted the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, leave that he had requested.
The period of requested leave was two weeks, from 16-30 August 2021. Agyeman-Manu will resume his duties as Health Minister on 31 August 2021 after his leave of absence. The minister’s leave is to enable him to “deal with pressing constituency and family issues”.
There has been speculation that the Health Minister has requested leave as a result of political pressure over the role he played in the botched Sputnik V contract.
OccupyGhana reaction
Reacting to the recommendations of the Alexander Afenyo-Markin-led ad-hoc parliamentary committee set up to investigate the controversial Sputnik V vaccine deal, OccupyGhana, for example, has said it does not believe that the emergency situation created by the pandemic was sufficient reason for the Health Minister to breach the country’s procurement laws.
“We do not think that the emergency situation created by the pandemic and the urgency required, constituted sufficient reasons to bypass all of these steps that are required by law.
“As Parliament has indicated, it would have acted with the speed and urgency that the emergency required, had the request for approval been made to it,” said a statement from OccupyGhana dated 9 August.
Dismissal
The pressure group called for the resignation or dismissal of the Health Minister over the botched contract.
In its recommendations, the ad-hoc parliamentary committee also charged the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to retrieve roughly $2.85 million paid so far under the contract.
Fred Dzakpata
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