Minority files urgent motion for bi-partisan probe into Sputnik-V deal

The Minority in Parliament has tabled an urgent motion calling on the house to commission a bi-partisan probe into the procurement of Sputnik-V vaccines by the Health Ministry.

According to the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, there are several questions to be answered regarding the transaction, which indicates that the government agreed to purchase a dose of the vaccine at $19 per unit instead of $10 per dose.

He filed an oral application of the motion during proceedings on the floor of Parliament on Friday, June 18, 2021.

“We have filed an urgent motion into Ghana’s procurement of every Sputnik-V vaccine. This motion that I emphasize, we are going to call for a bipartisan probe because we feel that Parliament is not even aware of this transaction,” he said.

Ghana took delivery of 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility in addition to 50,000 AstraZeneca vaccines from the Indian government, and 165,000 from MTN for its mass vaccination program.

The country has since been struggling to get more vaccines to immunize its target of 20 million people.

It later emerged that the government is using the services of middlemen to procure some of Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccines but at a higher cost of US$ 19 other than the original factory price of US$ 10.

This move has not gone done well with some stakeholders, including the Minority in Parliament which is calling for the abrogation of the procurement contract.

The Minority in Parliament says it will drag the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, to Parliament to explain the rationale behind the decision to hire the services of middlemen to purchase the vaccines for the national COVID-19 inoculation exercise from Russia.