UNICEF owes Ghana $81.8million for undelivered COVID-19 drugs – Dafeamekpor

Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has alleged that UNICEF owes Ghana US$81,870,379.80 for undelivered doses of crucial drugs meant to combat COVID-19.

According to him, a report on the audit of the Government of Ghana's COVID-19 expenditure for the period March 2020 to June 2022 shows that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government, through the Ministry of Health, entered into an agreement with The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines and related supplies.

Unfortunately, some of the vaccines were not delivered, and UNICEF has also not refunded the remaining funds.

In this week’s episode of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV, the MP expressed disgust at the amount of money the country has lost in her quest to help her people.

“That is why people like me don’t attend any programmes organized by UNICEF. I cannot understand why UNICEF would take our money with the intention of supplying us with COVID-19 drugs, yet they are unable to supply the entire order and retain the rest of the funds. We’ve organized several press conferences, but nothing has come out of it. We need to hold multinational agencies like UNICEF accountable. This behaviour is unacceptable.”

Reading from Page 21, paragraph 76 of the audit report Dafeamekpor said, "We noted that the Ministry of Health, on behalf of the Government of Ghana, paid US$120,192,379.80 to UNICEF/AVAT for the supply of 16,025,650 vaccines under the agreement. However, only 5,109,600.00 doses of vaccines valued at US$38,322,000.00 were supplied to the National Cold Room, resulting in an outstanding amount of US$81,870,379.80 with UNICEF/AVAT.’”

Further details from paragraphs 77 to 80 of the audit report stated the following.

77. This discrepancy could lead to financial loss if the contract is not renegotiated to recover the outstanding amount.

78. The Chief Director of the Ministry of Health explained that the payment was made in anticipation of receiving all the vaccines within a short timeframe for vaccination in the country. However, unexpected vaccine donations, limited vaccine storage capacity, and slow uptake by Ghanaians for vaccination made it impossible to receive the Janssen vaccines that had been paid for.

79. We recommended that the Chief Director of the Ministry of Health renegotiate with UNICEF/AVAT to recover the outstanding amount.

80. Management responded that the Ministry has initiated its own renegotiation process with the World Bank. A meeting has been held between the Minister and the Bank, followed by a letter to the Bank to commence the renegotiation process.

Asked by the host, Daniel Oduro, if parliament will take action, the MP responded, “What should Parliament do? We have summoned the Minister several times. His responds are neither here nor there. It is the government that must demand its money back. When I say government, I mean the executives who made the payment. They must seek a refund from the UNICEF headquarters.”

Watch the full interview below;





PRH/ADG