Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr. Ayew Afriyie, has discounted claims by a Norwegian newspaper of government procuring Sputnik V vaccines from Russia at inflated prices.

According to him, individuals commenting on the issue must be privy to both sides of the story before making any allegations.

His comments follow calls by the Minority for a parliamentary probe into reports made by the newspaper VG, on Ghana buying Sputnik vaccines that cost $10 per dose at $19 per dose.

Commenting on this, Dr. Afriyie denied any misconduct and has urged critics to get the appropriate figures from the Ministry of Health.

“As far as the people would want to investigate, they should get the sides of the story. Go to the ministry now, they can give you agreement of about four or five companies. The lowest they have, and I wish I could mention the name of the company, is $10 plus the supplier’s commission of $2”.

The VG paper also alleged that one of the mediators negotiating the deal is wanted by Norwegian Police for alleged financial crimes.

Markus Tobiassen, a lead investigator at VG newspaper, noted that numbers put out by government on the procurement do not add up.

Minority calls for a probe in Sputnik purchases

Meanwhile, a ranking member on Parliament’s Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, insists that government officials are trying to profit from the Covid-19 pandemic.

As such, he maintains that the Health Minister is “complicit” in the issue and must be summoned to Parliament.

He further revealed that it will be crucial for Kwaku Agyeman Manu to brief the House on the claims made by the Norwegian Newspaper. Mr. Akandoh also called for an independent investigation into the matter if the summon doesn’t yield desired result.

“Well, I would want to satisfy myself as a ranking member and a minority group. We have to satisfy ourselves to know the truth of the matter.

“As a Minority group, we have to satisfy ourselves to get to know the truth of the matter. So, we will call for the agreement. Because the minister himself is complicit in this matter and is a very serious issue. If it turns out to be true, it’s a serious matter because it borders on the health of the people; it borders on a pandemic and it breaches most of our rules and regulations in this country”.

Government to spend $400 million on vaccines

Mr Charles Adu-Boahen the Minister of State-designate at the Finance Ministry, earlier this month, revealed that government intends to spend $400 million to procure the needed vaccines to achieve herd immunity.

Additionally, Mr Adu-Boahen noted that the projected amount will cover the cost of vaccines to be provided to about 70% of the Ghanaian population.

“The projection is to be able to vaccinate a total of 70% of the population. If you put the population at 30 million that means about 21 million people. On average, depending on which vaccine it is that you buy, if we even average 10 dollars per shot then 20 dollars will be, so you have 20 dollars times 21 million, I think that’s about $400 million”.