The Presidential Spokesperson and Minister for Government Communications, Hon. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has clarified that the decision to change Lightwave, the company in charge of the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS), is not out of ill feeling towards the owners of the company, as some have argued.
Hon. Ofosu emphasized that the decision is not just because there has been a change of government and due to the new government not liking the management of Lightwave or simply to say that because of dislike or hatred towards them, that is why such a decision has been taken.
He noted that Lightwave was first contracted by the previous National Democratic (NDC) government in 2016 on a pilot basis, which saw the company connect 23 health facilities at a cost of $6 million, emphasizing that they cannot turn to have any ill feeling or intent towards Lightwave.
The Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) is a digital platform belonging to Lightwave and has been the digital space connecting Ghana’s health facilities for easy management, transfer, and keeping records and data of patients.
The Minister for Government Communications further explained that the issues being discussed, which have so far informed the government’s decision to part ways with the owner of the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS), are purely contractual matters.
“The issue at hand relates to specific contractual obligations that have not been honored and conduct that has led to losses to the state and compromised the state’s ability to run its healthcare system effectively.”
Hon. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Presidential Spokesperson and Minister for Government Communications
The minister further stated that the major issues rest on non-performance, inability to fulfill contractual obligations, payment in excess of actual work done, and refusal to grant administrative access to the government of Ghana.
With non-performance, Hon. Ofosu stated that the contract was a three-year contract that required Lightwave to connect 950 health facilities on the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) at a cost of $100 million within those three years.
However, the work was not completed at the end of the three years as the contract required, leading to a one-year extension in both 2023 and 2024.
He further added even after the additional two years, Lightwave had still not completed its work when the contract elapsed on December 31, 2024.
He further emphasized that there were several gaps in the work Lightwave delivered even though they did not complete their task.
“When an audit was conducted, it was found that there were gaps of up to $18.9 million inthe supply of the hardware, the software, and other services. So, for instance, if the contract stipulates that he supply this kind of laptop, he brings you an inferior one; if it stipulates that he supply this quality of software, he brings you one that has glitches and cannot work. When it was estimated, it amounted to $18.9 million. Almost $19 million.”
Hon. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Presidential Spokesperson and Minister for Government Communications
With the issue of excess payment over actual work done, the minister stated that there was an excess payment of $10.13 million.
The minister also explained that since the new government assumed office, Minister for Health Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has met with the manager of Lightwave on these issues and also requested that the government of Ghana be given administrative control over the system.
He noted that the management of Lightwave refused to cooperate with regard to the issues on the table, especially with the demand for administrative control, but was rather only demanding that a new contract be given to them by the government of Ghana.
The minister also stated that the claims that the government owes the Lightwave are not true, emphasizing it would have been understandable if the management put up such acts because of its unpaid funds.
“And let me re-emphasize that he is not doing this because we owe him money, that he has provided services that we have not paid for. We’ve paid, and paid him more than what he even deserves.”
The minister also explained that the recent challenges with the National Health Insurance System were due to the fact that the management of Lightwave were manipulating in what he calls “a blackmailing attempt” to get the government of Ghana to hand them another contract.
He added that the system has since been shut down for the past two weeks.
Hon. Ofosu therefore emphasized that all these contractual issues, culminating with there not being a contract in place as it expired in December 2024, constitute more than enough grounds for the government to part ways with Lightwave.
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