Health Minister-designate, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has disclosed that $100 million allocated for the fight against COVID-19 has been exhausted during his appearance before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.
Following a grueling five hour vetting process, Mr. Agyeman-Manu emphatically stated that albeit the initial amount has been depleted, the Ministry will receive an additional tranche of money to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Ministry of Health initially got $100 million allocation to spend on COVID-19. That amount has been exhausted, and we have got another money that is just about to mature for the Ministry to utilize which is about $120 million from the World Bank, and it is a loan.
“Mr. Speaker, as announced by President Nana Akufo-Addo on March 11, 2020, during his first broadcast on the coronavirus pandemic, Government has earmarked the cedi equivalent of US$100 million for the fight against COVID-19.”
Mr. Agyeman Manu
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, in March at the initial stage of the pandemic indicated to Parliament that an amount of $100 million will be dispensed for curbing the outbreak. Although it was disputed by the Minority side in Parliament with respect to the availability of funds, Mr. Ofori-Atta noted that, contrary to “views of some skeptics that the money is not available, I wish to assure you that the money has been secured and is available to be disbursed in accordance with our public financial management procedures and rules”.
“Indeed, from day one, Government has not stopped spending in the fight against COVID-19”.
Commenting on the coronavirus vaccine rollout, Mr. Agyemang-Manu stated that it will be heavily dependent on existing infrastructure put in place by the Ghana Health Service and that as some analysts have explained, the vaccination rollout will leverage Ghana’s “robust immunization programme”.
“When we started developing the vaccine strategy, we thought it wise not to reinvent the wheel but continue to rely on what is good for us.
“If you look at the strategy, when it is fully confirmed, you will see we are using Ghana Health Service infrastructure”.
Touching on preservation of the vaccines on the cold chain infrastructure, Mr. Agyeman-Manu said Ghana’s acquisition of the vaccines will be limited to procurements it can effectively preserve. He further stated that, the country only has ultra-negative cold chain equipment in Accra and Kumasi.
“But we have cold chain equipment that can take some types of vaccines we are looking for. The first vaccines that we may get will be AstraZeneca. That can be stored in our current cold chain infrastructure.”
In March, Ghana will receive its first procurement of the vaccines, per the assurance of the Health Minister designate, even as the country keeps a keen interest in the procurement of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines it can effectively store.
Ghana is getting vaccines through COVAX, a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines led by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). Per the latest update on the UN-led COVAX Facility, of which Ghana is a participant, the country has been assigned to take delivery of 2.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which is licensed to the Serum Institute of India (AZ/SII).
Ghana is among 145 counties listed to receive vaccines from a number of suppliers through the COVAX Facility according to the World Health Organization (WHO).]
I will vote against the two nominees appearing today- Mahama Ayariga
