• Lawyer, Martin Kpebu, says the minister has superintended too many controversies
• The minister lied under oath when he appeared before the parliamentary committee set up to look into the Sputnik V vaccine procurement
After his revelations during the ad hoc committee set up by parliament to look into the controversial procurement of Sputnik V vaccines, a private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, is rallying support for Kwaku Agyeman-Manu to be sacked.
By this, he wants members of the general public to petition parliament, through a letter, to get the health minister tried for perjury, myjoyonline.com has reported.
According to the lawyer, recent developments that have culminated into controversies, with the minister at the helm, give reason for such a call.
Additionally, he explained that the various revelations made during the probe into the Coronavirus Sputnik V vaccines procurement between the government and Messrs Al Maktoum, are enough for the public to support this call.
A nine-member Parliamentary ad hoc Committee was constituted to look into the matter from where it was established, among other things, that Kwaku Agyeman-Manu lied under oath.
Martin Kpebu, therefore, explained that “The contract he signed means that payment was to be made soon after the 20,000 vaccines were delivered so on what basis could the Minister go to Parliament to say that nothing has been paid? Is Al Maktoum Father Christmas that he will give you vaccines and not receive payment?
“That is why I believe we have to press the issue of perjury very hard because Agyeman-Manu is not leaving and they have to make the law bite. I want citizens to join me so that we will present a joint petition to Parliament so that he will be tried for perjury.”
While before the Committee, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu had lied that the government had not paid any monied to Al Maktoum when actually, he had paid $2,850,000 out of the $5,700,000 contract sum for the procurement of Sputnik vaccines.
This, he had done before he appeared before the Committee.
The minister had said that due to the dire situation in the country due to the Coronavirus, he signed a deal with Sheikh Al Maktoum to purchase 3.4 million doses of the vaccine, at the peak of the pandemic, stating that, “to the best of my knowledge, we haven’t done any payment.”
Justifying his failure to inform parliament before signing the deal, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu said, “I was in a desperate and helpless situation with the management of the COVID numbers. In February [this year], we had 78 deaths; by March, we had 56 deaths, and these were the numbers that pushed me to act.
“…if you were the health minister, I think you might have taken certain decisions that in hindsight you may not have done those things. The country was not in normal times.”
But Martin Kpebu insists the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, must be tried for perjury in accordance with Parliament Act,1965, (Act 300) and on contempt of Parliament based on Article 122.
“Article 122 on contempt of Parliament says an act or omission which obstructs or impedes Parliament in the performance of its functions is contempt,” he read.
He continued that “If a person lies under oath in Parliament, that should also be contempt of Parliament. You know obstruction of justice, if you go and lie it is perjury. You are obstructing it. If someone obstructs justice in Parliament, he has to face the law.
“He should have gone a long time ago. Even the report has made matters worse for him. Mr Agyeman-Manu is now embarrassing us as a country. It is as if he is our best talent for the job but we all know he is not. It appears that he doesn’t understand public service.”
Martin Kpebu says there is enough room to call for the minister to be tried for perjury