Sputnik V saga: He is defending Agyeman-Manu because he is also deeply involved – Martin Kpebu on Ofori-Atta

• Martin Kpebu continues to mount pressure on Kwaku Agyeman-Manu to resign as Minister of Health

• The lawyer says the Finance Minister is complicit in the controversial Sputnik V vaccine procurement deal

• The Health Minister of Health reportedly lied under oath when he appeared before the Sputnick V probing committee

One of the proponents calling for the resignation of the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has stated that the only reason his colleague minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is defending him is that the latter is complicit in the messy Sputnik V vaccine procurement.

Martin Kpebu, a private legal practitioner, insists the Minister of Finance is very much aware of the role he played in the deal that has today become one of the most talked-about controversies resulting from the novel Coronavirus in the country.

According to a report on citinewsroom.com, Martin Kpebu insisted that Kwaku Agyeman-Manu deserves no empathy in all that’s been happening so far, dragging in Ken Ofori-Atta as an accomplice since he initiated the transaction.

“Why should we have empathy for him? This call is really to mislead [Ghanaians]. Mr. Ofori-Atta is calling for empathy for himself; it is not for the health minister. It is because he has seen that the general populace is saying that he himself is deeply involved [in the botched deal], that is why he is saying so,” he explained.

He explained further that the finance minister should know better due to his many years of experience, adding that he has failed to show leadership in this respect.

“I can’t believe that Mr. Ofori-Atta is saying that we should show empathy… I think Mr. Ofori-Atta should spare us this.

“If all these years of experience have counted for nothing in his dealing in this transaction, he should go. I can’t believe that we are still having a debate about this matter. It is sickening that we are still having a debate about this matter.”

The Minister of Health has come under heavy criticism for his role in the messy procurement deal as established by an ad hoc committee constituted by parliament to look into the case of 3.4 million vaccine procurement for the country.

It was established that Kwaku Agyeman-Manu lied under oath when he appeared before the Committee following which the Minister of Finance was directed to retrieve the half payment of $2.8 million already paid to the middleman, Sheikh Al Marktoum.

Ken Ofori-Atta, under whose supervision the payment was made, has also recently come under pressure for the role he played in it, with a number of persons calling for his resignation as well.

“The people [middlemen] have said they can’t supply the vaccines; which means that they have broken the contract, and then we get our $2 million back, and then we move on. But to be so unsympathetic to somebody who felt that what can he do to ensure that there is continuity for Ghanaians, and now sit comfortably to chastise him without empathizing with him; I am empathetic of him, and I expect that others will also realize the type of pressure that he was under at the time and his commitment to ensuring that Ghanaians are safe,” Ken Ofori-Atta had said in an earlier interview.

It must be stated too that the Attorney General’s office advised against proceeding with this deal.

But Martin Kpebu told Umaru Sanda on Eyewitness News that the minister’s office cannot be glossed over because it is a clear breach of the country’s constitution.

Read Full Story