Sputnik V procurement deal, Finance Minister too must go - Sammy Gyamfi

The National Communication Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Sammy Gyamfi is demanding the immediate resignation of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta for his involvement in the botched procurement of 300,000 doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.

He is also calling for a bi-partisan probe into the entire government expenditure on COVID-19 and related matters.

The Health Minister, Mr Kwaku Agyemang Manu is currently under intense criticism for breaching procurement processes while trying to secure the Sputnik V vaccines for Ghana, and has admitted he signed the agreement without parliamentary or cabinet approvals, or the approval of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).

However, Mr Gyamfi says while the Health Minister must be shipped out of office, there has been too much focus on him alone when the chief culprit is the Finance Minister.

"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," he said in a statement copied to Graphic Online.

"This is the same person who without any transparent selection process, engaged and paid his own company, Enterprise Insurance a whopping 110 billion old Ghana cedis as COVID-19 insurance premium for health workers.

He wondered why no one is calling for the head of the Finance Minister, asking also if it is because he is the cousin of the President.

"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. But even before that, #KenOforiAttaMustResign".

Meanwhile, the hashtags #AgyemanManuMustGoToJail and #KenOforiAttaMustResign are among the top trends on Twitter in Ghana.