A lecturer at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Lawyer Justice Abdullai, has opined that the Minister of Health, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman Manu has flouted all procurement laws and is thus liable for prosecution.
He discouraged Mr. Manu’s sympathizers from making his offense look insignificant calling on the President to be quick with his judgment on the matter.
Justice Abdullai was speaking in relation to Mr. Agyeman Manu breaching procurement processes to sign a contract with third persons to supply the country with Sputnik V vaccines.
The Health Minister said he was coerced into taking the action due to the urgent need to procure the vaccines.
Condemning the actions of the Health Minister on Metro TV’s Good Afternoon Ghana, Mr. Abdullai said he has long advocated for the sanctioning of Mr. Manu, stressing that the latter’s offense defies all three procurement laws.
“I am proudly one of the earliest callers for the immediate removal of the Minister and indeed prosecution because I did not see any defense in any of the conducts that he exhibited relating to this particular transaction.”
“I have made the point clear that there are three areas that you can look at this particular problem. First, the point of committing perjury. The second is the procurement breaches and then the third being the constitutional breaches. All of these put together or taken individually cannot absorb the Minister from any liability,” he argued.
The UPSA lecturer explained that no amount of pretense callers can save the Minister indicating that there are immediate issues that the Minister has still not received approval to act.
“It’s interesting listening to the majority in one bid begging for forgiveness and in another bid seeking to almost playing with words and making it look like the Minister hasn’t done anything wrong. Even as we speak, the very report that is the subject of our discussion stipulates categorically that the conduct of the minister in procurement matters has still not seen approval even till date as we speak. So obviously I do not see how the breach of the procurement law will absorb the Minister and how forgiveness is a basis for allowing matters to go. I don’t think the Minister should even wait for this particular kind of call,” he emphasized.
Lawyer Justice Abdullai expressed dismay that the President has been slow in taking action against the embattled Health Minister citing previous cases where the former has been swift with his decisions.
“I’m indeed surprised about the President’s inaction in all this. I expected the President to have acted immediately after the report came; to have dismissed him out-rightly and handing him over to the police for prosecution immediately. And I say immediately because, I saw how quickly the President acted when the Electoral Commissioner [Charlotte Osei] who was involved in procurement breaches was swiftly removed from office. And how quickly the President acted on Deputy Minister of Agriculture, who made unpalatable remarks about Northerners was removed from office,” he stressed.
By: Ernest Tetteh Kabu | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
