Members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), London South Branch have called on the Minister of Health, Kweku Agyemang – Manu to resign from his post with immediate effect or be given the boot by President Nana Akuffo Addo.

According to the branch, the Minister failed to exhibit leadership, displayed corrupt practices, failed to follow laid down approval processes, and also failed to account to the people in respect of the procurement of Sputnik V.

Recent events and revelations clearly indicate that the Minister and the Health ministry have not been honest with citizens of Ghana whose taxes government appointees use to manage the country. One such revelation is when the Minister of Health told the whole country that he had been trying to procure the Covid -19 vaccines through government to government with the Russians but it turned out that he signed the agreement with middlemen in March and in April approached the Russians through its Foreign Ministry, a clear display of dishonesty.

The Minister of Health had also indicated that it was the Sheikh who acted as the middleman who approached the Ministry of Health but recent revelation indicates that it was rather the Minister of Health who rather approached the Sheikh.

The Minister of Health, Kweku Agyeman – Manu categorically denied that government had made any payment when he appeared before the ad hoc parliamentary committee set up to look into issues in respect of the purchase of Sputnik V. Once again it turned out that the minister was not being honest.

Before appearing before the committee, the minister had paid 50% of the total contract sum of $5,700,000 which is $2,850,000 for the purchase of the vaccines to Messrs Al Maktoum.

The minister had said that because of the situation that the country was in because of the coronavirus he signed a deal with the Sheikh to purchase 3.4 million doses of vaccine at the peak of the pandemic, and quoting him, “to the best of my knowledge, we haven’t done any payment”.

The minister further justified why he did not inform Parliament before signing the contract, stating that he was in a desperate and helpless situation in managing the COVID numbers. This is clearly a demonstration of someone who does not have the necessary leadership skills to deal with situations of such magnitude. There is precedence where parliament has been summoned under certificate of emergency, which begs the question why the minister did not see the need to involve parliament if not for other ulterior motives.

But the NDC London South Branch in a statement signed by its Organizer, Malik Dramani Mahama said they would want to hold President Nana Akuffo – Addo to his words when he said he shall protect the public purse by insisting on value for money in all public transactions.

The statement stated that the President has displayed tendencies to shield his appointee in similar situations making mockery of his promise to fight corruption.

“Ghanaians are watching and the time to get the Minister of Health, Kweku Agyeman – Manu to resign for full-scale investigations to commence and possible prosecution is now,” it added.