The Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has said calls for the dismissal of Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu by the Minority in Parliament suggests a vendetta against the Minister.

Mr. Afenyo-Markin noted that the sudden vote of censure forms part of measures to drag the reputation of the Health Minister into the mud.

“They are perhaps doing their usual partisan political points scoring by this sudden attempt at perjury. If this is them trying to personalise the matter, that somebody doesn’t like Agyeman Manu and wants to go after him, they should make it clear."

“I expect them reasonably to act in good faith, but this new attack on the Minister is another personal attack and nothing more. It would be unconscionable for the Minority to suddenly argue that there should be a censure against the Minister. That I think is an attempt to be overly partisan to attack the integrity of the Minister,” he said on Citi TV's Eyewitness News.

The Minority on Wednesday filed a motion backed by all 137 NDC MPs seeking the removal of the Health Minister from office.

In a Memo to the Speaker, the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, explained that the Dormaa Central MP’s action contradicts Article 191 of the 1992 Constitution.

The Minority is convinced that the Health Minister is guilty of perjury, among others, when he “misrepresented to the Ad Hoc Committee under oath that no payment was made under the agreement to the Private Office of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum [the Dubai-based businessman the Ministry of Health contacted for the procurement].”

But the Majority has accused the Minority of acting in bad faith with its call for the dismissal of Kwaku Agyeman Manu.
Addressing the press in Parliament on Wednesday, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said his side is surprised by the action of the Minority since the Committee had concluded that both parties unanimously agreed on the deal.

“So we thought that we have dealt with this issue of Sputnik-V, but we are hearing that some attempts are being made to bring a motion of censure against the Health Minister. We will be surprised to see that happening on the Floor of the House because it will amount to serious bad faith.

“That notwithstanding, we wait to see, but we have approved the report at the plenary by consensus just as the Committee itself arrived at with its findings and recommendations,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu says he is not perturbed by the Minority’s call for his dismissal from office due to his involvement in the botched Sputnik V vaccine deal.

In an interview with Joy News’ Kwesi Parker-Wilson, the Dormaa Central MP said he is not aware of the Minority’s vote of censure against him.

“Perturbed of what? What is my crime? That is why I said I do not want to talk to any journalist now, I will get too emotional…There was a committee and the Committee’s report has been adopted by the Chamber, I want to end there,” he said.