The Minority has filed an urgent motion in Parliament for a bi-partisan probe into the procurement of Sputnik-V vaccines by the Health Ministry.
The procurement of the vaccines has been the source of much controversy, partly because a dose of the Russian-produced vaccine was purchased at $19 instead of the open market price of $10.
Filing the motion through an oral application on Friday, June 18, 2021, Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said per the Minority’s understanding of how the transaction was carried out, it should have come to Parliament.
“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…We believe that even that transaction is an international economic transaction which, within the meaning of Article 181(5) of the Constitution,†he said on the floor of Parliament.
A Norwegian newspaper first broke the story of Ghana’s use of middlemen to purchase Sputnik V vaccines at a price much higher than the market price.
Experts who commented on the issue when it broke also said the use of middlemen to procure the vaccines – some alleged to have shady backgrounds – flouts WHO recommendations.
The government came with full force to explain that it was compelled to go through middlemen because a government-to-government transaction has been unsuccessful with Russia.
The Ministry of Health also said its overriding interest was to acquire the vaccines to enable a roadmap for a nationwide vaccination exercise to progress.
But speaking in Parliament on Friday, the Minority leader said Parliament is not aware of the deal as it ought to.
“And we want to understand the procurement processes that were used but more importantly to demand value for money for the Ghanaian taxpayer and that we are not just seeking to profit from COVID with this questionable transaction,†he said.