Days after questionable Ghana Sputnik vaccine deal surfaces, World Bank approves $200m COVID-19 credit
Political corruption is endemic in Ghana. The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have provided conditions for questionable and hard to explain deals by the government, which have strong signs of profiteering off the pandemic.
Just days after a Norwegian news source’s disturbing story of a questionable deal initiated by the Ghana government to obtain the Russian made Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine has come up, the World Bank has announced a $200 million COVID-19 financing support for Ghana. The Bank in November 2020 had provided $130 million for the same purpose.
According to the World Bank, in collaboration with the COVAX Facility COVID-19 vaccine acquisition the $200 million COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Project Second Additional Financing, will provide financing to support the government to procure and deploy COVID-19 vaccines for 13 million people in the country. The financing is a credit facility to be repaid in 30 years with five years moratorium.
The Sputnik deal is wrapped in a lot of anomalies in direct contravention of World Health Organisation (WHO) advice. Countries have been advised not to buy vaccines through middlemen, but that’s exactly what Ghana did. And according to the Norwegian news source, VG, one of the middlemen is a fugitive, 59-year-old Per Morten Hansen, a man wanted in Norway for offences including money laundering, and a Sheikh from Dubai, Ahmed Damook, who sold overpriced gas turbines to Ghana in 2015, in the infamous Ameri deal.
Ghana’s Ministry of Health signed an agreement with the Sheikh and Norwegian wanted by his country’s police to purchase 3.4 million doses of the Sputnik vaccine, and according to the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, the Ghana government has paid for 300,000 vaccines at $19 per dose amounting to payment of $5.7 million. But the Russians sell the vaccine at $10 per dose. At this price, Ghana has effectively paid twice the amount.
In a recorded interview with the VG, Mr. Ofori-Atta says he doesn’t know the Russians were selling the vaccine at $10 a dose.
Prof Kofi Gyima-Boadi, a political scientist, thinks the deal is doubtful.
“The deal smells fishy. The use of middlemen, lack of clarity about whether the government solicited the services of the middlemen or the middlemen initiated the offer to supply; was there competitive bidding among multiple suppliers or it was sole sourced? Did the Ghana Embassy in Russia play a role in this?” He queried.
Prof. Gyima-Boadi asked more questions: “Why is the cost per dose nearly double? Did Parliament approve the deal before payment was authorized?” These questions are still begging for answers.
“Surprisingly, a group of people with questionable pasts were contracted to procure vaccines on behalf of the country. More importantly, with information on their vaccine dealings in Pakistan and Jordan, was there not enough red flags to prompt us?
The WHO has cautioned countries on the risks involved with dealing with middlemen. In my view our best option currently is to lobby world leaders with excess stock. Anything else will be ignoring the supply chain constraints,” Dr. Kwame Sarpong Asiedu, a pharmacist and public health expert told ghanabusinessnews.com.
The deal has been shrouded in secrecy. None of the Ghana government announcement of the deal mentioned any specific details. Ghana like most developing countries are racing against time to obtain COVID-19 vaccines to ensure that a larger part of the population is vaccinated against the virus which has been relentlessly ravaging the world for almost two years now. The theory is that if a greater percentage of populations is vaccinated, that would lead to herd immunity and stem off severe forms of infection.
Ghana announced the first two COVID-19 infections in the country on March 12, 2020. According to the Ghana Health Service, as at June 12, 2021, the country has recorded some 95,000 infections with 789 deaths, and by May, 7, 2021 some 852,047 people have been vaccinated, with the AstraZeneca vaccine obtained through the COVAX programme. COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and WHO. Its aim is to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world, the WHO says on its website.
The country is aiming at vaccinating 20 million people by October this year, but with vaccine shortages, it is unclear how the country can obtain the quantity required to achieve this.
Can the action of the Ghana government in acquiring the Sputnik vaccine through middlemen be said to be in the interest of the citizens?
Prof. Gyima-Boadi has this to say: “On whether the government took the decision in the best interest of Ghanaians? There cannot be a straight answer to this. But the deal seems to fall in the growing category of instances where dire national needs and emergencies for power/electricity, sanitation, youth employment, as well national passions for soccer and other sports, etc are perverted into opportunities for government and ruling party big wigs……., to profiteer, self deal, racketeer and create loot and share – Brazil World Cup, AFCON, South Africa, Ameri and other dumsor containment deals, Gyeeda, Suba, PDS, etc.”
“This sort of banditry by political elites will never stop until these decisions are fully transparent while being made and not after, credible independent investigations are conducted when suspicions arise, and punitive sanctions are meted to those found to have abused their office, those who offended the public interest, those who aided and abetted,” he added.
Ahead of the G7 Meeting in Cornwall county, the UK, World Bank President, David Malpass issued a statement June 11, saying: “The World Bank is rapidly scaling up programmes for countries to acquire and deliver vaccines and deploy them in peoples’ arms. We have now approved $3 billion in vaccine financing for 32 countries, of which 15 are in Africa. More approvals will follow rapidly over the coming weeks.
The IFC, our private sector arm, is leading a consortium to support Africa’s regional vaccine production. Work toward investments in South Africa, Senegal and Rwanda is at an advanced stage,” he added.
The decision of the Ghana government to use middlemen to source for the Sputnik vaccines, has more to do with corruption than the interest of the people as the story unfolds.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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