Sputnik V vaccines contract terminated – Health Minister
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has announced that the government has cancelled the controversial contract for the supply of Sputnik V vaccines through middlemen.
Appearing before a nine-member bi-partisan Parliamentary Probe Committee, the minister said Sheik Al Makhtoum and SL Global informed the government on 14 July 2021 that due to global shortage of vaccines it is unable to honour the contractual agreement.
The Ministry of Health has stated that attempts by government to secure Sputnik V Vaccines at a unit cost of US$19 is not a rip off as being suggested in some quarters. However, Parliament approved a motion by the minority to investigate the procurement contract.
“We are not just terminating the contract because, after the contract, they gave us two weeks to supply the first 300,000 doses of the vaccines that we have ordered based on the letters of credit we have given them, as part of the terms of the agreement, but our letters of credit were delayed but got to them later They came back to [tell] us that they have run out of stock and that they are waiting on the manufacturer to supply them, and they will supply us in two weeks.
“After two weeks we enquired, and they have said still they haven’t received it. So we started engaging them that if that is the matter, they should permit us to withdraw from the contract so that we can do something different and buy vaccines for ourselves, because our faith in them to supply [the vaccines] was waning. So we continuously put pressure on them and they gave us [until] July. They later gave us verbal notice that they will not be able to supply any longer, and so we requested that they terminate the agreement, which they have actually done. So, as we sit here, there is no contract between the two of us,” Agyeman-Manu told the committee.
The Ministry of Health has stated that attempts by government to secure Sputnik V Vaccines at a unit cost of US$19 is not a rip off as being suggested in some quarters.
The explanation follows a Norwegian newspaper (VG) report suggesting that Ghana is buying Sputnik V Vaccines from Russia twice the price.
A statement issued and signed by Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari, chief director of the Health Ministry, said the US$10 a dose is rather the ex-factory price, which is only obtained from Government-to-Government arrangement.
“The initial price quoted was US$25, but this was negotiated downwards to US$19. This is the result of the cost build up to the ex-factory price of US$10 per dose, taking into account transportation, shipment, insurance, handling and special storage charges, as explained by the seller. These are the factors which led us to agree the final price of US$19 per dose,” the statement said.
It added: “The unit price was negotiated at a meeting held at MoH, with representatives from MoH and Office of Dalmook Al Maktoum, who had travelled to Accra for the purpose. The MoH, after ascertaining the type and nature of the vaccine, through the delivery of 15,000 doses, placed an order for the supply of 300,000 doses of the vaccine at a cost of US$5,700,000.”
The ministry said government, however, has the option to pull out of the deal if supply condition is not delivered. “This is yet to be delivered. This undertaking includes an option to opt out of any obligations if supply conditions are not met.”
Source: Asaaseradio
