Social and political non-partisan pressure group, OccupyGhana says the underfire Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang Manu has no right to sidestepped Parliament in whatever situation pertaining to dealings on behalf of the country.
The pressure group noted that the emergency circumstances do not justify bypassing constitutional and statutory processes in the procurement of the Sputnik V vaccines through a middleman.
The Health Minister is in trouble following the revelation that he did not follow the country’s Constitution processes earlier this year when he reached a deal with a middleman, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum on behalf of Ghana for the procurement of Sputnik-V vaccines.
In his defense, Kwaku Agyemang Manu noted that he was only trying to get ahead of the emergency circumstances facing the country at the time to procure the vaccines to help in the fight against the pandemic.
Not convinced, OccupyGhana stresses that it cannot be an excused for the Health Minister to enter into an international business without parliamentary approval, without cabinet approval, without Public Procurement Authority approval or ratification, and without the advice of the Attorney-General.
As a result, the pressure group is calling on the Health Minister to do the honourable thing and as a matter of urgency resign from his position.
“It is on the basis of the foregoing that we demand that the Health Minister resigns from office. Even if he meant well under emergency circumstances, those did not justify bypassing our constitutional and statutory processes. If the Health Minister does not resign of his own accord, then we call on the President to relieve him of his post,” part of a press release from OccupyGhana reads.
It adds, “While calling for this resignation, we also believe that Ghanaians ought to be told which other officials were involved in processing and paying the monies, without demanding and seeing the requisite approvals; those officials ought to be similarly sanctioned. Also, Ghanaians should be told when we expect to receive a full refund of the outstanding amount from the recipient.”
—ModernGhana
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