Agyeman-Manu was born in Dormaa Ahenkro in the then Brong Ahafo region. He is a Chartered Management Accountant and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Statistics from the University of Ghana in 1989. He also graduated with Management Accountancy from the London School of Accountancy.
In May, 2017, President Nana Akufo-Addo named Kwaku Agyemang-Manu as part of nineteen ministers who would form his cabinet. The names of the 19 ministers were submitted to the Parliament of Ghana and announced by the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Prof. Mike Ocquaye. As a Cabinet Minister, Agyemang-Manu is part of the inner circle of the President and aids in key decision-making policies for the country.
Controversies
Woyome scandal
In 2005, Mr. Kwaku Agyemang Manu, then Deputy Finance Minister under the Kufuor administration, issued a letter in the absence of the substantive Minister of Finance to a company owned by Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome in regards to the construction of stadia’s for the CAN 2008. Mr. Woyome then sued the Government of Ghana in 2009 and secured a judgment of over GHC 51 million, relying on the letter issued by Mr. Kwaku Agyemang Manu.
Anti-snake procurement scandal
On the 8 February 2019 the President of IMANI Center for Policy & Education, a Ghanaian based Think Tank, first reported about various procurement breaches by the Ministry of Health in the procurement of Anti-Snake Venom Serum in an open letter on Facebook to the Minister. In an attempt to quell the issue, the Minister was heard on a local radio station, Adom FM, refuting the allegations of tender procurement breaches. A follow up response was also sent to IMANI in this regard These claims by the Minister were later found to be fabricated to cover up dealings with a local company called Pharmanova. The Public Procurement Authority ruled against the Ministry and cited various procurement breaches in its decision and requested the Ministry to disqualify the two Pharmanova companies for double bidding amongst other issues and re-evaluate the tender with the remaining tenderers. This scandal was widely covered in the local media and many wondered why the Minister was still at post after these hard facts leveled against him had caused the loss of many lives in the country due to the shortage of this all important emergency drug. Up until March 2020, the Minister has tried various attempts to cancel the said tender, opened up new tenders for Anti-Snake Venom Serum, ignoring the ruling by the PPA and trying to allocate these new tenders again to Pharmanova Ghana Limited.
Condom scandal
In 2019, the Ministry of Health opened a tender for condoms under bizarre circumstances. Interestingly, no local company who could have had supplied the condoms participated raising questions if the tender was open and widely publicized as required by the Public Procurement Act. It is also interesting to note that the contract again went to Pharmanova Limited.
Pharmanova
A locally registered company owned and managed by Indian nationals has been active in Ghana since 2005 and has increasingly won many tenders especially under the tenure of Kwaku Agyemang Manu as the Minister of Health. No full-blown investigations have been started by the Government of Ghana whilst evidence of fraud and tender manipulation has been widely published by local media.
Personal life
Agyeman-Manu is a Christian. He has been married several times and has six known children.
On June 13, 2020, several media outlets in Ghana announced that he, his wife and his son had tested positive for COVID-19 and were on admission at the University of Ghana Medical Centre. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu was admitted on Tuesday and was released on Friday whiles his wife and son are in critical conditions at the intensive care unit of UGMC. He claimed that he hasn’t tested positive on COVID19 on Saturday when he spoke via phone to a journalist called Afia Pokuaa aka Vim Lady. He claimed to be only resting and taking his usual diabetes medication. It is rumored that his conditions has created panic in Government and several top officials are isolating themselves. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President of Ghana, announced on National TV that his Minister of Health indeed contracted COVID19. It is to note that the parliamentary primaries of the NPP in the Ministers constituency have been postponed further. It will be interesting to see if the residence and especially delegates of his party further support him after this.
Hon. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has been called to serve on the executive board of the World Health Organization as the representative of Ghana who is a member state of the WHO. It was widely published in the Ghanaian media that it was his good works/initiatives as a Minister and his technical competence which has caused this high ranking appointment. It is to note that WHO elects its members from their Member States only. Being the Minister of Health in Ghana, he therefore representing Ghana and not himself. Mr. Agyeman-Manu joins in as one of the seven Africans who represent their countries to support the Executive Board of WHO in May 2020.
