Mr. Kwaku-Agyeman-Manu and Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has defended the sector minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu over the payment of US$2,850,000 to Messrs Al Maktoum, in the procurement of the Sputnik V vaccine for Covid-19.
According to the Ministry, Mr Agyemang-Manu did not know about the payment for the Sputnik V vaccine before his appearance before the parliamentary ad-hoc committee probing the purchase agreement.
The minister had denied knowledge of the payment when he appeared before the committee explaining that he dealt with the intermediary called Sheikh Al Maktoum to purchase 3.4 million doses of the vaccine, because of the dire situation of the country at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and that “to the best of my knowledge, we have not done any payment.”
But the committee established that the government of Ghana had paid $2,850,000 of $5,700,000 in the controversial Sputnik vaccine deal.
Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has subsequently been asked by the committee to take steps to recover the US $2,850,000, being the cost of the Sputnik V vaccines that were proposed to be procured.
Head of Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Health, Alhaji Inua Yusif, in a letter dated August 3, 2021, and addressed to the nine-member ad-hoc committee indicated, “After the last appearance of the Honourable Minister for Health with his technical team before your Honourable Committee, some new information has come to the notice of the Ministry of Health that, some funds have been transferred by the Government of Ghana to the Private Office of H. H. Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum in respect of the agreement for the supply of Sputnik V Vaccine.”
The ministry of Health attached a document it claimed it received to the letter.
It included a letter from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to the Bank of Ghana in respect of an order of telegraphic transfer of funds, the Bank of Ghana foreign exchange transfer instructions and the Bank of Ghana notice of transfer of funds from the Government of Ghana to the Private Office of H. H. Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum.
The Health Ministry further explained that “in line with clause 8.2 of the Agreement, the Ministry of Health has taken steps by requesting for the assistance of the Ministry of Finance to recover the remaining amount from the Private Office of H. H. Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, which should be the total amount paid, minus the amount due for the 20,000 doses already supplied.”
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri