Coronavirus: We had no obligation to seek Parliament's approval for services procured - Agyeman-Manu

Health Minister-designate Kwaku Agyeman-Manu says he had no obligation to come to parliament to seek approval for the procurement of Covid-19 related services.

He said the emergency we found ourselves in did not make it necessary for them to come to parliament to seek approval for services procured to manage the outbreak.

He was reacting to a question from Muntaka Mubarak, the Minority Chief Whip on why he refused to seek approval for the procurement of the services of some 10 insurance companies for the insurance packages given frontline health workers.

He also admitted that they did not go through any tender processes for the election of the insurance companies.

He added that he instructed his procurement manager to seek approval from the Procurement Authority for sole sourcing and selective tendering.

His attention was drawn to the Procurement Laws which have made provisions for emergencies to prevent breaches.

He insisted he went through the PPA and triggered the emergency window and sought approval for almost all the covid-19 related services.

He insisted they were not under any obligation to have come to parliament to seek approval because they had already triggered the emergency window at the PPA.

When asked how he had planned to get the resources for these services since the covid-19 had not been anticipated, he said the Finance Minister came to parliament for approval although, the Health Minister had already engaged the services of the insurance companies before the approval was given.