Opposition legislators have initiated a process to get Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, sacked over the Sputnik V vaccine procurement scandal last year.
The Minority MPs have on Wednesday, February 16, 2022, filed a motion for a vote of censure against the Health Minister.
In a memo to the Speaker of Parliament, the Minority said his actions were a “direct breach of the Constitution and Laws passed by this Honourable House.”
They said the minister was guilty of perjury, among others, when he “misrepresented to the Ad Hoc Committee on Oaths that no payment was made under the agreement to the Private Office of His Highness Shiek Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum [the Dubai-based businessman who was the middleman the Ministry of Health contacted for the procurement].”
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The Health Minister was heavily criticised when he used a foreign middle to procure thousands of doses of the Russian-produced vaccine at $19 per dose when it was being sold at $10 by the manufacturers.
The scandal prompted calls for the contract to be terminated and his dismissal.
The Minister had claimed in the heat of the controversy that no money was paid to purchase the vaccines but this turned out to be false.
It was discovered that the Ministry had paid $2,850,000 representing 50 per cent of the $5,700,000 owed to Sheikh Maktoum – the middleman – for the supply of 300,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine although only 20,000 doses were delivered.
The contract was terminated, and the Sheikh refunded the half payment made to him.