(1) If the declaration of misprocurement occurred in 2025 during the tenure of the current Minister, what proactive steps did the Minister take to resolve the matter before project closure in order to protect the interests of the State and the public by ensuring the timely operationalization of the facility?
(2) Has the Minister checked whether the Ministry, at the time of procurement, followed the required statutory procurement and contractual approval processes before signing the contract? If the Minister is not questioning the procurement process and an issue has subsequently been raised by the World Bank, has the Minister officially challenged the World Bank as a means of defending the State?
(3) Has the contractor been paid for work completed and verified by the Ministry in accordance with the terms of the contract? As stated in the World Bank’s own release, the Ministry is responsible for fulfilling its contractual obligations under the contract, so why is an unresolved disagreement between the Ministry and the World Bank affecting payment to the contractor and the operationalization of the project?
(4) Why is the Minister not interested in resolving the issue with the World Bank, but instead pursuing the contractor to hand over the facility when there are other technical works to be completed before the handover can take place, according to the Ministry’s own letter dated 14 May 2025?
(5) Furthermore, the evolving positions adopted by the World Bank on this matter raise significant concerns. The Bank initially asserted that all items under the equipment package were priced between three (3) and eleven (11) times prevailing market rates. Subsequently, that position shifted to an allegation concerning only the CT scanner. Thereafter, the narrative changed again to a broader assertion of materially higher prices and an alleged lack of value for money. These changing positions do not provide a sufficiently certain or credible basis upon which the so-called “misprocurement” was declared.
(6) Why did the Ministry of Health go into the media space to spew untruth that the financing agreement is between the World Bank and the contractor, and that the overpricing of some equipment had made the country lose 3.8 million dollars when they knew that assertion was false.
Apparently, this issue is far from being resolved as the contractor feeling he is being deliberately defamed by the Ministry of Health, has reportedly declared his intention to go to court.
Stay tuned…
