…..As Ghana faces massive US$52 million debt

Fresh scrutiny is increasing over the Akufo-Addo government’s controversial drone medical delivery deal with Zipline, with new details showing that the then Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, lied to Parliament by claiming that the state would not spend a dime on the emergency health delivery service across the country.

Information obtained from the 2018 Parliamentary Hansard, revealed that Mr Agyeman-Manu’s assertion is in sharp contrast to the revelation that the Akufo-Addo government left behind tens of millions of dollars in debt owed to Zipline.

He mentioned the telecommunication giant MTN, Tullow Oil, and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) as the funders of the medical deliveries.

However,  senior Ministry of Health sources have told The Herald that the state currently owes Zipline an estimated US$52 million, while others within the sector have cited an outstanding liability of GH¢174 million. The ballooning debt has reportedly forced Zipline to shut down three of its operational centres, raising fears about the continuity of emergency drone deliveries, particularly to remote health facilities.

The controversy traces back to 3 December 2018, when Parliament debated the Service Agreement between the Government of Ghana, represented by the Ministry of Health, and Fly Zipline Ghana Limited, for the delivery of emergency health and blood products to public health facilities.

During the debate, Mr Agyeman-Manu sought to reassure MPs that Ghana would not be financially burdened by the agreement, insisting that the project was being funded by “corporate bodies” rather than the state.

“Mr Speaker, corporate bodies would fund this project… Those that we have approached have given us indication that they would want to support us fly these drones… They would want parliamentary approval before they commit their funds to it,” he told the House.

“It was gratifying to note that corporate entities like the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), MTN and Tullow Oil have agreed to partner with the Ministry of Health to cater for the Ministry’s financial responsibility in the execution of the project. It was gratifying to note that GNPC has already pledged to provide funds to cater for the operational cost of the Project for the first year”, Mr Agyeman-Manu told the House as captured by the records of proceedings.

Interestingly, the United States Government yesterday, 2 December 2025, made a commitment of up to $150 million to Zipline International Inc. to expand access to life-saving medical supplies, including blood, vaccines, and essential medicines, to as many as 15,000 health facilities across Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda.

According to the U.S. Embassy’s digital press briefing, the support forms part of the US Department of State’s new America First Global Health Strategy, which aims to increase value for U.S. taxpayers by reducing waste, eliminating dependency, and ensuring that development assistance aligns with U.S. foreign policy priorities.

According to Jeff Graham of the U.S. Department of State, the strategy strongly emphasises delivering critical medical products to populations in remote and underserved areas.

He said partnering with Zipline, an American robotics and drone-technology company, is central to modernizing the U.S. approach to global health.

In the 2018 record of Parliament, the then Health Minister repeatedly stressed that the government was not directly paying for the service, and that Parliament’s approval was needed only to give confidence to private funders.

A major point of contention during the proceedings was the true cost of the service. Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, then Minority spokesperson on Finance, challenged the figures presented by the Health Minister, pointing to provisions in the Service Agreement that suggested a far higher monthly commitment.

Mr Agyeman-Manu, however, insisted that the correct figure was US$88,000 per distribution centre per month, citing page 33 of the agreement: “We would only pay US$88,000 per month for this,” he affirmed.

But Dr Ato Forson disputed this, citing Schedule 2 of the agreement, which outlined phased cost increments of US$11,000, US$27,000, US$59,000, and finally US$88,000, depending on the level of operational capacity achieved.

He further cited other pages that detailed penalties and additional charges for non-performance or late payment, arguing that the actual monthly commitment could escalate significantly beyond US$88,000.

“Mr Speaker… this shows exactly how the cost is being built up… when they achieve 75 per cent completion, we would pay US$88,000 on top of the other phased charges.”

The debate at the time raised concerns among MPs that the deal had not been adequately costed and that the Ministry was presenting only selective elements of the contract.

Nearly seven years later, the financial reality appears far removed from the assurances given to Parliament. Instead of being funded by private companies, as the current Health Minister, who doubles as MP for Juaboso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, is claiming, the Government of Ghana is now grappling with huge arrears owed to the same service provider.

Insiders say the accumulated debt has already undermined service delivery, with Zipline scaling down operations due to unpaid bills, leaving several rural facilities without rapid access to blood, vaccines, anti-snake venom, and other critical emergency supplies.

Records show that the Service Agreement was presented to Parliament on 22 November 2018 and later referred to the Health Committee for consideration. Officials from the Ministry of Health, including then Deputy Minister Tina Mensah, as well as management representatives of Fly Zipline Ghana Limited, participated in the review process.

Despite these engagements, questions remain about why the Ministry assured Parliament that the state bore no financial responsibility, given that the contract contained explicit service-based charges and penalties tied to performance and payment timelines.

Civil society actors, health policy analysts and some MPs are now calling for an investigation into how the Ministry misrepresented the financial implications of the contract and why the state failed to honour payments, leading to a crisis that has crippled parts of the emergency health distribution network.

As pressure mounts, there is growing expectation that Parliament may revisit the 2018 agreement to determine whether the House was misled and how the current debt burden can be resolved without further undermining public health delivery.

Additional records revealed that in April 2019, the Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Mr Ernest Norgbey, in sued the government for sole sourcing the $12.5 million medical deliveries via drone agreement to Fly Zipline Ghana Limited.

Fly Zipline was also joined to the suit.

Mr Norgbey, in his writ, insisted that per the Public Procurement Act, there was no justification for the government to sole-source the contract to Fly Zipline.

According to him, the $12.5 million contract did not satisfy the laid-down procedures in the Public Procurement Act.

He is, therefore, seeking a declaration that “the Government of Ghana erred in using a single sourcing method of procurement in engaging Fly Zipline Ghana Ltd for the implementation of Zipline RPAS for the delivery of blood products.”

He also wants a declaration that the service agreement was “illegal and therefore void” and an order “invalidating the service agreement.”

One of Mr Norgbey’s points of contention is that other options were not assessed before the government settled on Fly Zipline for the implementation of the project.

He further argues in the writ that the government “did not do due diligence or survey the market before embarking on single-sourcing method of procurement.”

The Ashaiman MP maintained further that “the government has an obligation to do due diligence and survey the market to ascertain that a company [Fly Zipline] is the only supplier or service provider before using the single sourcing method of procurement.”

But years on, it is not clear how far the Ashaiman MP’s case went.

The $12.5 million contract was to enable the government to fly blood and other health essentials to deprived areas.

Fly Zipline launched a similar service in Rwanda in 2006 to improve public health delivery in that country.

When fully operational, Fly Zipline expects to operate over 150 flights per day from each of its four distribution centres.

The first facility was built at Omenako, a town in the Suhum municipality within the Eastern Region, but reports indicate the Zipline is underperforming, with deliveries far below expectations, prompting calls to terminate the service.

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