Prof Dodoo Faces MPs Over Ebola

The Head of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Ghana Medical School, Prof Alex Dodoo, was heavily castigated by Members of Parliament for denigrating those of them who expressed their candid opinions on the advertised Ebola vaccine trial in the Volta Region last week.

The members unanimously agreed that the professor should be dragged before the Privileges Committee of Parliament for making an unguarded comment that overtly denigrated Parliament as an institution.

The MPs, including Speaker Edward Doe Adjaho, were of the strong view that the professor's description of MPs as ignorant following comments some of them made on the Ebola vaccine trial rather exposed his lack of knowledge about the work of parliamentarians as representatives of the people.

The MPs from both sides of the House expressed their disgust at Prof Dodoo’s criticism of MPs on the Ebola vaccine when the Minister of Health, Alex Segbefia, appeared in the House yesterday to brief parliamentarians on the Ebola vaccine trial in the Volta Region.

Prof Dodoo, on the airwaves, had described MPs as ignorant for making misleading and unfounded comments on the Ebola vaccine trial in the country following MPs' opposition to the vaccine trial.

He went on to say that it was a shame that MPs were asking fundamental questions on the floor of the House such as whether the trial had been performed on mice and chimpanzees when the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health could have easily sought more clarity on the issue from the Food and Drugs Authority which had been mandated to undertake such trials.

All the MPs who had the opportunity to comment on the Minister’s briefing in Parliament yesterday seized the opportunity to condemn  Prof Dodoo for attacking the integrity of MPs who were carrying out their constitutional duty in the interest of the Ghanaian populace they represent in Parliament.

The Second Deputy Speaker, Joe Ghartey, said his heart bled when he heard the professor making those comments in the media, noting that their chief mandate is to represent the interest of Ghanaians and not politicians.

“…I know we did the right thing because even the Ghana Academy of Arts and Science as a body has vindicated us by also warning strongly about this intended vaccine trial,” he added.

The Majority Leader, Alban Bagbin, was not charitable to the professor when he took his turn to speak on the issue, calling on the

professor to submit himself to the first trial if he knew the vaccine trial had no side effect(s).

The Speaker, after listening to the MPs, directed that Prof Alex Dodoo be invited to appear before the Privileges Committee of Parliament to justify his comment about MPs and or even share anything he might know that MPs do not know with the committee members.

By Thomas Fosu Jnr