Alexander Akwasi Acquah, the Member of Parliament for Akim Oda and a former Deputy Health Minister, has criticised the government for allowing a delayed payment of roughly $64,000 to a cloud hosting provider to disrupt the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS2). The payment delay, he said, should not have been permitted while investigations into the project were ongoing.
The Ministry of Health’s spokesperson, Tony Goodman, explained on Eyewitness News that the delay stemmed from an investigation into the hosting company. Health Minister intervened to authorise payment, allowing DHIMS2 to resume operations while the probe continued.
Acquah, who sits on Parliament’s Health Committee, questioned why a relatively small sum could jeopardise a critical national health information infrastructure. “A company that is under investigation and has access to health data, you don’t risk by saying we are not paying you. How big is this amount of money?” he asked. He urged the government to treat such arrangements with greater caution and to investigate the circumstances that led to the shutdown.
He added that the disruption’s effects must be examined, not merely the fact that the system was restored. “We need to investigate what has happened. We need to interrogate the issues and make sure it doesn’t happen, because they’re becoming too many,” he said. “The kind of effects that these stoppages bring to us must be discussed. It must be brought to bear. Otherwise, we risk sweeping it under the carpet.”
The MP’s remarks highlight growing concerns over the management of Ghana’s health data systems and the need for transparent oversight of critical infrastructure providers.
