Ofori-Atta must also resign over messy Sputnik V vaccine deal – Sammy Gyamfi

The Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi says the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta must also be held liable for the controversial Sputnik V vaccine procurement deal.

He argued that Mr. Ofori-Atta released GHS16 million to Dubai-based Sheikh Al Maktoum without parliamentary approval, thus making him the “chief culprit” in the botched agreement.

The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has come under intense criticism for breaching procurement processes while trying to secure Sputnik V vaccines for Ghana.

Agyeman-Manu confessed that he signed the agreement with the middlemen without parliamentary or cabinet approval. He also did not seek approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) prior to finalising the agreement with the middlemen.

The Attorney General is on record to have advised against the deal.

In a post on Facebook, Sammy Gyamfi said the Minister for Finance must equally be punished for the embarrassment caused the country.

“Why are we over-concentrating on the Health Minister in the discussion about the botched Sputnik Vaccine Supply deal when the chief culprit is none other than the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who without Parliamentary approval, paid a whopping 160 billion old Ghana cedis to the Dubai Sheikh,” Sammy Gyamfi noted in a Facebook post.

He insisted that the conduct of the Finance Minister was “reckless” and warrants that he resigns from his post.

He further called on Parliament to initiate a probe into the government’s COVID-19 expenditure.

“The reckless conduct of Ken Ofori-Atta in paying millions of Ghana cedis for an unlawful Vaccine Supply contract makes it imperative that Parliament immediately conducts a bi-partisan probe into the entire government expenditure on COVID-19 and related matters,” Sammy Gyamfi said.

A 9-member ad hoc committee set up by Parliament to probe the botched deal recommended that the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, takes action to retrieve the money already advanced to the businessman who earlier agreed to supply Ghana with Sputnik V vaccines.