Former Minister of Health, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, has addressed recent claims regarding alleged financial irregularities in the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) contract, stating that all payments made under the agreement corresponded to the work completed by the time his administration left office.
His clarification comes after Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh revealed that significant irregularities were discovered in the execution of the LHIMS contract.
Mr. Akandoh disclosed that the matter had been referred to the Attorney General for advice and possible action, following findings that suggested the contractor had received over $77 million despite completing less than half of the expected installations.
Dr. Okoe Boye confirmed that the total value of the Lightwave project was $100 million, explaining that about $76 million had been paid to the contractor in line with the progress of work completed.
“The whole work which they are doing is worth 100 million dollars. They have not been paid more than 100 million dollars. At the time we exited, our reconciliation with them showed that the amount of invoices they had raised and the amount of money they had received was equivalent to 76 million dollars,” he said.
According to the former minister, by the time approximately 450 facilities had been connected, the reconciliation indicated that the value of work executed amounted to about $66 million. This left a surplus of $10 million, which was treated as an advance payment in accordance with the contract terms.
“We sat down with them when we were there, and it was agreed that 10 million dollars would be treated as an advance certificate. In the contract, an advance certificate means money you have ahead of the job,” Dr. Okoe Boye stated.
The LHIMS platform was introduced to digitise and streamline healthcare information across facilities nationwide. The government has since announced plans to replace it with the Ghana Healthcare Information Management System (GHIMS) to enhance efficiency and ensure better data security.
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