As people suffer from the COVID-19 pandemic through the loss of jobs, deaths and others, government elements and their cronies, have found avenues to make money around the virus, as long as its ravages last.
First, was the controversial Frontier Healthcare Services (FHS) deal in which a Nigeria national with the help of government officials, took over the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), testing travelers by charging a whooping US$150, while other countries in some instances charged less than US$20.
As at last week when the Transport Minister appeared before Parliament, the company owned by Benedict Peters family and registered in the offshore Dominican Republic, made a massive $17.36 million dollars, but gave a paltry US$1.16 million in royalties from COVID-19 testing procedures at the KIA.
The amount, which was received by the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) on behalf of the government, accrued between September and December last year.
The Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, disclosed this on the floor of Parliament Thursday, and said the total amount raised by FHS over the period under review was $17.36 million. This means that more money had landed in the coffers of the company from December last year to this month; June.
Interestingly, no proper agreement was signed with the owners of the Frontiers as attempts by the Minority side of the House to get some papers on the transaction, has not yielded any positive results.
Frontiers is owned by one of Nigeria’s more colourful oil magnates, Benedict Peters who has been based in Ghana after fleeing Nigeria, following Muhammadu Buhari’s election in 2015. Peters is said to be a good friend of Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, and this friendship has been of immense benefit to them than to the Ghanaian taxpayers.
As this was ongoing, some hotel owners linked to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) were made by the Akufo-Addo government to quarantine travelers for many days, sometimes at the expense of the travelers, but most times borne by the taxpayer.
However, government elements and cronies into business continue to find means of milking the state, and the latest is the procurement of the Russian vaccine; Sputnik-V.
The vaccine, which is sold for US$10 by the manufacturer, is being offered to Ghana for US$19 per A dose through the use of middlemen.
But as Ghanaian continue to be angry about the deal, especially the use of the third parties which has shot up the price, the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsia Asare, has challenged citizens and other persons who believe they can get the COVID-19 vaccines at a lower cost to submit proposals to the government through the Ministry of Health (MoH).
He told 3FM last Friday, that the government is working hard to get these vaccines at a lower cost hence, the doors of government are opened to the general public to that effect.
“If anybody can get these vaccines for 10 dollars, go to the Ministry of Health and tell them you can get it for 10 dollars,” he said.
He added “We are all working as one country to make sure that we safeguard the people, we get the herd immunity that we need at a very reasonable price for everybody.”
Dr Anthony Nsia Asare, asked Ghanaians and other analysts not to focus their analysis of the cost of the Sputnik V vaccines on the ex-factory prices.
Ex-factory price means the selling price of the products/goods less any costs incidental to the delivery of the goods to the customer. Dr Nsia-Asare said focusing the discussion on this will lead to wrong conclusions.
Ghana has been cited in an investigative report in a Norwegian newspaper Vergens Gang for agreeing to procure the Sputnik V vaccines from a businessman at a unit price of $19 instead of $10.
Dr Nsia-Asare said “I am sure getting to the end of the year or somewhere from October to November when a lot of the market which are not as stable now will be stable, this is what is going to happen in the COVID vaccines geo politics at this stage, all the vaccine prices will come down.
“If you compare the vaccine prices of ex-factory you will get it wrong. We try as much as possible as a government to get the government-to-government (G2G) deals. What is happening to the G2G at this moment is that every country which is manufacturing has to satisfy its citizens first.
“I am sure if we had manufacture in Ghana and we haven’t satisfied our citizens so that we have our herd immunity and we can start selling to Togo.”
He further challenged Ghanaians who believe they can get the COVID-19 vaccines at a lower cost to submit proposals to the government through the Ministry of Health.
He said the government is working hard to get these vaccines at a lower cost hence, the doors of government are opened to the general public to that effect.
Meanwhile, Juaboso Member of Parliament Kwabena Minkah Akandoh has accused the government of cheating Ghanaians in relation to the purchase of the Sputnik V vaccines.
Addressing a press conference in Accra, the ranking member on the Select Committee on Health said “All indications surrounding this deal points to an attempt to rip off the Ghanaian tax payer and maximize profit for a private individual in government and their foreign partners.
“The AU bought 300 million doses of Sputnik V for 9.75 dollars per dose. Slovakia and Hungary, which are much smaller countries than Ghana and in need of smaller quantities have all purchased the Sputnik V vaccines for approximately 10 dollars. Why should Ghana pay more?”
The Ministry of Health has justified the purchase of Sputnik V vaccines at almost double the factory price, emphasising the negotiations were held at a time of scarcity of the products across the globe.
But a statement issued by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday, June 9 said: “We were torn between accepting the price to enable us have access to the vaccine or facing the situation of the seller withdrawing from the negotiations, to the extent that the 15,000 doses that had been shipped to Ghana were going to be rerouted to other countries.”
The statement signed by the Chief Director of the Ministry, Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari, noted that the government was unable to obtain direct supplies of the vaccines from the Russian government and so had to resort to one Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the supplies.
According to the Ministry, $10 was the ex-factory price but the Emirati offered to sell the vaccines at $25 per dose.
This was slashed by $6 after negotiations, according to the statement.
“This is the result of the cost build-up to the ex-factory price of US$10 per dose, taking into account land transportation, shipment, insurance, handling and special storage charges, as explained by the seller.
“These are the factors which led us to agree to the final price of US$19 per dose,” the Ministry stressed.
It has assured Ghanaians that “it will endeavour to secure vaccines for the Ghanaian people, despite global shortages and cognisant of price and legal considerations”.
The Savannah Regional Communications Director of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Malik Basintale, has said he is not surprised at the recent conversation the country has been entangled in with regards to the purchase of the Russian Covid-19 jab, Sputnik V.
He alleged that the government intended to profit from the purchase of the jab to inoculate the population.
“So far as the purchase of this Sputnik V is concerned, something is not adding up. There is a problem, anywhere and anytime there is a create, loot and share, there will definitely be inconsistencies in the stories delivered by the actors involved,” he said on the New Day show on TV3 Friday June 11.
“If not corruption when they told us that the ex-factory price was $10, if you go on the Sputnik V Vaccine page, it is $9.9 USD.
“You see, in buying items at a huge quantity, every cent counts. This is Government of Ghana money, the taxpayers’ money, so you can’t round up monies like that,” he added.
“Why will the price have to move from $10 USD to $19 USD, almost twice the price? If you look at the Saudi and UAE regimes and how they transact business, they run at close to a zero percent profit and that is why most Saudi banks even give loans without interest and what has changed in this particular deal?”
Source: www.theheraldghana.com
