Health Minister to testify in court tomorrow over €2.37 million Ambulance deal

Health Minister, Hon. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu is to testify in court tomorrow over the €2.37 million Ambulance deal that is alleged to have caused financial loss to the state.

The minister will make an appearance on Thursday 16th June 2022  in the matter of the Republic against a former Deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson.

Mr. Ato Forson has been accused of wilfully causing financial loss to the state relating to the procurement of ambulances in the Mahama Administration.

The accused is a Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee and a Minority spokesperson on Finance. He, Sylvester Anemana and a businessman, Richard Jakpa were sued in court for causing the country to lose €2.37 million.

The Ministry of Health, through its Procurement Directorate, has stated that the faulty ambulances were not properly tested before being put into service and were found to have various defects.

One such defect was that of the air suspension system on the ambulances, which did not work as expected. Another defect was that of the air-conditioning system.

The ministry has also stated that the faulty procurement of the ambulances was due to the fact that the specifications of the ambulance were not properly communicated to the contractor and hence, the procurement was not done in a transparent manner.

The procurement of the 30 ambulances has been suspended and an investigation is currently underway to establish whether any persons are at fault for this.