The Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Murtala Mohammed, has accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of cashing in on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Mohammed claims the governing NPP had misused funds allocated for Ghana’s fight against COVID-19 on its personal activities including political campaigns.

His comment comes in the wake of a report by Norwegian news tabloid, Verdens Gang, indicating that Ghana has made a request to purchase 3.4 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine through two businessmen who are selling it to Ghana at $19 per dose instead of the $10 per dose on the international market.

Government has said that it cost the country some 21 billion cedis to deal with the pandemic in Ghana.

Speaking on Citi TV and Citi FM’s ‘The Big Issue’, the MP said the NPP government had failed to account for how the funds set aside to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic were used.

He said it was not surprising that the government had signed a deal to procure vaccines at an overpriced value.

“We went and borrowed money [and we are still borrowing] 1 billion dollars from the IMF and hundreds of millions of dollars from the World Bank. No one has been able to account to the people of the country, how we have actually used the money. They used the COVID money to engage in political activities. This government sees COVID-19 as an opportunity to make more money. They do not see COVID-19 as an opportunity to protect the lives of the people of this country. They do not simply care and there are evidences to that.”

The government has explained that it could not secure the vaccines directly from the manufacturer, hence the need to go through some middlemen, justifying why the cost is higher than the standard price of the Russian vaccine.

But Mr. Murtala dismissed the government’s explanation, saying it failed to be proactive in securing the vaccines for the second jab.

“They did not act swiftly to ensure that we got the vaccines, so that we will be able to administer it timeously. The date we were supposed to take the second jab elapsed. They came out with all kinds of excuses.”

Both the Health Ministry and Health Committee in Parliament have also justified why the government must procure the vaccines at an overpriced value.

The Minority in Parliament is however demanding the immediate termination of any contract between Ghana and any entity for the procurement of the vaccines.

Ranking Member on the Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said, revelations about the government procuring vaccines at a higher price smacks of financial impropriety.