Hence the Auditor General has recommended to the Director General of the Ministry of Health to renegotiate and recover the outstanding amount.
This, according to the AG, should be done immediately to ensure recovery of the amount to the state.
“We note that the Ministry of Health on behalf of the Government of Ghana has paid the sum of $120,192,379.80 to UNICEF/AVAT for the supply of vaccines..
“However, 5,109,600.00 doses of vaccines valued at $38,322,000.00 were supplied to the National Cold Room with a difference of US$81,870,379.00 with UNICEF/AVAT.
“We recommend that the Director General of the Ministry of Health should renegotiate the outstanding amount with UNICEF/AVAT” He said.
Meanwhile, of the US$2.5bn (¢21bn) raised for the fight against Covid-19, only 25% (¢5.5) was spent on health, the report said.
The balance was spent on government programs like free SHS and LEAP, the AG added.
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemong Manu, in 2021, defended his failure to secure parliamentary approval for an agreement with Sheikh Maktoum to procure Covid-19 vaccines.
His failure to obtain parliamentary approval is a violation of the provisions of Article 181(5) of the 1992 Constitution, which requires parliamentary approval for all international agreements.
Responding to questions at a meeting of a parliamentary committee probing the deal, the minister said the rate of infection and death had forced him to ignore the process of signing the deal to buy vaccines.
The minister said that he was desperate to get vaccines and frustrated that regular sources of vaccine supply had failed.
