Ablakwa Petitions OSP over Procurement of Ambulance Spare Parts
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate the alleged ambulance spare parts scandal.
It comes a day after the lawmaker posted some correspondence from the Finance Ministry, implicating former Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta and former Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu in the procurement of spare parts for 307 ambulances at a cost of US$34,904,505.00.
“I have duly petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor on the US$ 34.9 million Ambulance Spare Parts Scandal. It is unacceptable that after 24 hours since my exposé, the government has been unable to speak, and at least provide a breakdown of the US$113,695.45 it claims to be spending on spare parts for each ambulance when that amount can get us a new fully-equipped modern ambulance.”
He is hopeful his move will go a long way to hinder payment of the outstanding amount and enable the country to retrieve all payments made.
Background
According to the lawmaker, the approval for the purchase was given by the former Finance Minister five days before he left office in a reshuffle.
“In his last shockingly sleazy conduct, Ken Ofori-Atta by a letter dated 9th February 2024 approved a staggering US$34,904,505.00 to be paid to the discredited Service Ghana Auto Group Limited for the procurement of spare parts for the 307 ambulances purchased by the government in 2019. On the same 9th February 2024, the busy Finance Minister instructed the Controller and Accountant-General to release US$ 10 million, equivalent to GHS120,711,000.00.
“My impeccable tracking of this transaction confirms that the Controller and Accountant-General processed and released the GHS120,711,000.00 on February 23, 2024, which was promptly received in the accounts of Service Ghana Auto Group Limited. An analysis of this dubiously outrageous transaction valued at US$34,904,505.00 for spare parts for 307 ambulances, actually translates into US$113,695.00 per ambulance.”
The MP who suspects foul play by the government in this transaction alleged the Service Ghana Auto Group Limited was incorporated more than a year after the 307 new ambulances were commissioned by President Akufo-Addo on January 28, 2019, and was handpicked without a competitive procurement process.
Additionally, he alleged the company had received some GHS115,342,573 in payments for shoddy servicing of the ambulances between 2020 and 2023 before the recent deal.
Ablakwa is of the view that the US$34,904,505.00 could have afforded new ambulances for the health sector.
“Checks from many Mercedes Benz ambulance dealers across the world show that US$113,695.00 is far more than the value of a considerable number of modern fully equipped new ambulances.
Why sign a rip-off and an unconscionable sweetheart deal of US$ 113,695.00 just for spare parts when you can buy a new fully equipped modern Mercedes Benz ambulance for the same value, and even less?”
