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.

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.

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.

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

Management responded that the Ministry has initiated its own renegotiation process with the World Bank?