Akufo-Addo whitewashing unconstitutionality committed by his govt with Sputnik V report – Amidu

• Martin Amidu says Akufo-Addo is whitewashing the illegalities committed by his govt with Sputnik V committee report

• He said, Akufo-Addo’s Bono Region pronouncement constitutes evidence of his interference with the investigatory and adjudicatory process

• Kwaku Agyeman-Manu is facing criticisms for his involvement in the

Read full articleSputnik V vaccine procurement

Martin Amidu, the former Special Prosecutor, has indicated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is using the nine-member adhoc parliament committee report on the probe of the Sputnik V vaccine procurement as “just a smokescreen behind which to exonerate and whitewash all the suspected unconstitutionality and illegalities committed by the Government in the procurement contract and payment for the vaccines”.

He said, Ghanaians must be hallucinating to think that the Minister of Health, whom I have known since our Commonwealth Hall days in the 1970s, would have had the temerity to have executed the Sputnik V vaccine procurement contract without executive approval by the mother of the Government.

Amidu in a statement copied to GhanaWeb on Monday, August 16, 2021, said Akufo-Addo’s Bono Region pronouncements on 10th August 2021 constitutes evidence of his interference with the investigatory and adjudicatory processes pending before a supposedly independent and coordinated arm of government – the Legislature – before which the suspected Sputnik V corruption affair is currently pending for a decision on the findings and recommendations of the adhoc parliamentary committee.

He explained, “When I stated the President’s interference with the independent performance of the functions of the Special Prosecutor in investigations and prosecution of suspected corruption and corruption-related matters affecting the government and its appointees as the main reason for my resignation, doubting Thomases, as usual, had no eyes to see nor hear and questioned my judgment. After my resignation, the whole world witnessed how the anti-corruption Auditor-General, Mr. Daniel Domelevo, was hounded out of office on flimsy grounds for daring to endorse and approve audit findings made by his staff against members of The Family.

"In the President Akufo-Addo Government’s desperation for vengeance, the EOCO hauled the Auditor-General for alleged procurement malpractices involving the absence of public procurement authority approval in a case in which the Auditor-General was clearly not involved in the procurement process or of any breaches thereof. The revenge exacted by the President on Mr. Daniel Domelevo, as an Auditor General exercising the independent constitutional functions assigned to his office under the Constitution as the Auditor General was a clear interference in the performance of the functions of the Auditor-General by the President for making audit findings against members of The Family and yet the doubting Thomases could not again see nor hear.

“What makes Daniel Domelevo’s government manufactured procurement suspected breaches warranting EOCO harassment different from the Government’s own breaches of the Public Procurement Act and article 181(5) of the Constitution in the Sputnik V Covid-19 procurement contract as an international business or economic transaction? When did a thief or an armed robber who steals or robs another cease to be a thief or an armed robber simply by returning part of the stolen or robbed property to the owner? Does the alleged refund of the sum of US$2, 470,000 out of the initial unlawful part payment by cousin co-President and Minister of Finance, of a sum of US$2,850,000 render constitutional and legal the initial payment including the 20,000 doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines delivered by Sheikh Ahmed al Maktoum, representing US$380,000 of the unconstitutional international business and economic procurement transaction?”

Background

Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Health Minister, in his quest to get Ghanaians vaccinated against the novel Coronavirus engaged the services of the Private Office of Sheikh Al Maktoum for the supply of the Sputnik V vaccines. Ghana had already taken delivery of 20,000 out of an expected 300,000 doses.

Sheikh Al Maktoum was paid $2,850,000 for his services out of an expected $5,700,000.

The Sheikh in the letter obtained by GhanaWeb also indicated that no funds had been drawn under the Letter of Credit which expired as of June 2021.

He is also expecting a payment receipt once the funds are credited to the government bank account.

The refund is minus the cost of 20,000 doses ($380,000) supplied by the businessman.

Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, decided to refund the money following a request from the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who is at the moment on a two-week leave.

The supply of the vaccines hit a snag, leading to the termination of the agreement between the businessman and Ghana's Ministry of Health in July this year.

At a nine-member parliamentary ad-hoc committee probe on the issue, the embattled Health Minister admitted to entering into the contract with the Dubai Sheikh, without parliamentary approval.

He indicated that he approved the purchase of US$64.6 million contracts for the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia, out of the exigencies of the time.
That act by the Minister, who is a former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, violated the requirement of Article 181 (5) of the 1992 constitution.

The minister explained that the goal was to get vaccines to save the lives of the people by hook or crook, and planned to move to seek formal parliamentary processes thereafter.

But the nine-member ad-hoc committee report indicated that the health minister failed in seeking parliamentary approval, regardless of the pressure at the time and that could not substitute due provisions enshrined in the constitution.

Meanwhile, several civil society organisations, pressure groups, and individuals have expressed disgust over the revelations on the deal, calling for the head of the minister.