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Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader and Deputy for Suame
Majority leader and parliamentary affairs minister Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has defended struggling Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu amid calls for his resignation following a botched deal on the Sputnik V vaccine.
Contrary to the widely held view that a recent committee report implicated the minister, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said Agyeman-Manu’s testimony should be understood in context.
The troubled minister is accused of lying to the parliamentary committee about whether or not Ghana made payments to the vaccine vendors with whom he was dealing.
Citi FM quoted the majority leader explaining his position as follows: “I called the president [Afenyo-Markin] and vice-president [Akandoh], and they both disagreed about what really happened at the committee level. I called the clerk of the committee and she said that she didn’t really remember what exactly happened, but that she would ask for the recording.
“She did and came to inform me in the presence of the president and the vice-president that indeed the minister did not make a categorical statement and that the minister said that to the best of his knowledge, no payment had not been made “.
“Before that I had told the secretary that if indeed the minister made a categorical statement that no payment had been made, and they found out that the payment had been made, then they should put that in the report that what the minister had said was inconsistent with their [committee’s] own observation. So they put that in the report.
He continued: “But when the clerk admitted that indeed the minister had made no such categorical statement and the statement was characterized as’ to the best of his knowledge no money has been paid”, in this case, you say the minister lied? Clearly no … [So] in the presence of the president and the vice-president, the secretary released this part of the report, ”he explained.
The Committee’s report released late last week found that Ghana had in fact paid off 50% of the over $ 5 million deal reached with the UAE-based office of Sheikh Al Maktoum.
A total of US $ 2,850,000 had already been transferred to the Sheikh in what now appears to be a payment of which the Minister was not aware when he appeared before the Committee.
Calls for the minister to rule have come from the minority in parliament while civil society and anti-corruption groups have also made similar calls.
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has been ordered by Parliament to ensure the recovery of the more than $ 2.8 million paid. He assured that the money will be recovered and joined the few empathetic voices with the minister.
In parliament, the chief minority whip and MP for Asawase, Muhammed Muntaka Mubarak, hinted that the NDC would vote censorship against the minister if the president refused to fire him.
He pointed out that the minister had violated the constitution by entering into such a deal without resorting to parliamentary approval.
“It is beyond a reasonable doubt that the minister broke his oath and, moreover, he also did not respect the constitution and the laws of our country.”
“I must say the minister should be sanctioned. He must be removed by the president. He is not fit to hold the post of Minister of State and must therefore be dismissed from his post, failing which this Assembly must vote censure against the Minister.
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