The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has blamed his predecessor, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, for overpaying the contractor for the controversial Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) project.

Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday, October 30, 2025, Akandoh said Dr Okoe Boye had made excessive payments to the vendor despite the project being far from complete.

He urged the former minister to refrain from making further public comments on the matter.

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“Mr Chairman, today I woke up to a response from the immediate past minister. And if anything at all, he should be keeping quiet. It’s not in his interest to be talking, because he overpaid the contractor,” he stated.

According to Akandoh, the contractor received over US$77 million, representing more than 70 percent of the total contract value, although less than half of the targeted health facilities had been connected to the system.

“This is one of the things he said. He said that payments have been 62% from the Ministry of Finance and 68% from the National Health Insurance Authority, totaling 76.99 million paid. So, he has admitted that about 77 million has been paid, and 23 million dollars are outstanding.

“As of December 2024, reconciliation showed an unutilised advance of 10.6 million yet to be expended by the vendor. And he is the one who paid for this. Why should he be talking?” the minister added.

Akandoh further clarified that the LHIMS contract did not allow pre-payments, insisting that funds were to be disbursed only after work had been executed and verified.

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“Mr Chairman, this is not a pre-payment procedure. You pay as and when you have executed the job. So, if you have paid more than the work you have done, you have been overpaid,” he indicated.

The exchange between the current and former health ministers adds to the ongoing scrutiny surrounding the LHIMS contract, which has drawn public attention over issues of transparency and value for money.

MRA/AE

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