There is no reason for Agyeman-Manu to still be in office – GII to Akufo-Addo

• GII has supported calls to have the Health Minister sacked

• Mary Ada of GII said public officers do not have the luxury of justifying wrongdoing

• The botched procurement of the Sputnik V vaccine breached constitutional provisions for Public Procurement Act

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has insisted that calls to have the Health Minister sacked are in order adding that the president must sack him.

The Programs Manager of GII, Mary Ada, said Kwaku Agyeman-Manu’s excuse that he was confused about the controversial procurement of the Sputnik V vaccines must not be accepted especially because he failed to go through Parliament.

Speaking in an interview with Citi News, she noted “There is no reason whatsoever for him to still be in office. We all agree that due processes were not followed, we all also agree and he himself has agreed that he did not seek approval from Parliament, neither did he go through cabinet to seek approval and decided that it was out of pressure, and he was confused.”

She was of the view that as a public officer, the minister must be accountable for his actions. The GII Programs Manager maintained due processes must be followed and “due diligence is enhanced in this country.”

“Any public officer who accepts to do his job and agrees to be a public officer knows the magnitude and the demands of the office and cannot justify any wrongdoing or whatever confusion or the exigencies of the time. We need to ensure that processes are followed, and due diligence is enhanced in this country. So those who do wrong should be called to order just like another Ghanaian, and Kwaku Agyeman-Manu is no different. So he should as a matter of urgency be called to order.”

Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu is under substantive pressure from all sides to throw in the towel and leave office after his blunder over the purchase of Sputnik V vaccines into the country.

Following revelations in the report of the Parliamentary Committee that probed the Sputnik V vaccine contract, Minority members in Parliament have called for the sacking or immediate resignation of the health minister.

Among other things, the report by the committee revealed that Mr Agyeman-Manu breached constitutional provisions for the parliamentary approval as well as the Public Procurement Act.

On the back of calls to made to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to sack the minister, the president broke his silence during his two-day tour of the Bono region on Tuesday, August 10, 2021.

“There are a lot of people from the Bono Region in my government; including the Minister of Health, who is currently receiving slaps [from Ghanaians]. He is an indigene of Dormaa. He has really suffered in that Health Ministry and is still suffering,” he said amid laughter.