Fresh details have emerged regarding the controversial award and execution of the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) contract, raising serious questions about procurement processes, value for money, and the handling of sensitive patient data over the past eight years.
The Herald’s investigations, has revealed that Lightwave Technologies Ghana Limited, the contractor behind LHIMS, first entered Ghana’s health system through a pilot phase in 2016 under the John Mahama administration.
However, soon after the change of government in 2017, the incoming Health Minister, Kweku Agyeman-Manu, swiftly signed a full-scale contract worth US$100 million with the company, bypassing competitive tendering procedures.
The contractor behind Lightwave is Sampson Djaba, brother of former Gender Minister Otiko Afisa Djaba and a cousin of President Mahama. This link has sparked public debate and partisan accusations. Interestingly, the Mahama government prevented Sampson Djaba from leaving Ghana due to irregularities in the contract. He does not live in Ghana.
Agyeman-Manu, who had previously chaired Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, a body known for scrutinising public spending and procurement breaches, is alleged to have used administrative authority to fast-track the deal, ignoring procurement rules that would have ensured competition and value for money.
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Despite the arrangement being touted as a national health digitalisation milestone aimed at network-linking all public health facilities and enabling seamless retrieval of patient records, the results over the eight-year period have been underwhelming.
Out of the US$100 million contract sum, approximately US$77 million was reportedly paid to Lightwave, yet a substantial number of public health institutions remain unconnected to the system. Many hospitals continued to operate on separate networks, and private healthcare facilities, which were also supposed to be included, were largely left out.
Compounding matters, outgoing Health Minister Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye is said to have approved a final payment of US$10 million to the contractor at the tail end of the Akufo-Addo administration. He has since been pushing the Mahama government to pay the remaining amount to Lightwave.
Industry observers say the failure to implement the digital health infrastructure, despite heavy expenditure, underscores governance lapses at the Ministry of Health and raises suspicions about political patronage.
Sources within the health sector also recount a curious episode involving a former head of a major government hospital in Cape Coast, Asare, who initially criticised the Lightwave system but allegedly reversed his stance after being summoned to Accra by senior officials.
With the return of the Mahama administration, the project’s future remains uncertain, as the system remains incomplete despite significant public investment.
The Herald understands that calls are intensifying for a forensic audit into the LHIMS contract and expenditure, to establish accountability and determine whether the state received commensurate value for the funds committed.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has fired back at allegations that he demanded a 23 per cent commission from the contractor of the LHIMS.
“He can go to hell and say what he wants. What’s important is that I do the job I was given,” he said.
Speaking on Adom TV’s Badwam morning show, the minister described the claims as baseless and absurd.
“Why would I offer to sign a service maintenance agreement if I was going to ask for a commission? It doesn’t even make sense,” he said.
Mr Akandoh explained that the dispute arose from a difference over a new maintenance agreement, not financial misconduct.
“The service maintenance agreement is completely different from an extension. I never demanded a commission. If someone is determined to destroy me, they will lie, but it won’t work,” he added.
The minister recalled a tense confrontation with the vendor at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“This guy insulted me on the streets of New York, head-on. Not everything we hear or see should be believed,” he said.
He further stressed his integrity and humility, describing himself as a “village boy and a rice farmer” who is not motivated by money.
“Even after the UNGA, I offered him another service maintenance agreement. When he came with an invoice for nearly a million dollars, I asked, “On what basis can we pay you this?” That’s how reasonable I am,” Dr Akandoh said.
The minister concluded by noting that public service comes with challenges and false accusations, but he remains focused on his work.
“People are trying to tarnish my image, but I am looking out for bigger issues than this,” he said.
But Lightwave E-Healthcare Solutions Limited has strongly refuted allegations made by the Health Minister concerning the management of LHIMS.
In a detailed statement issued on Thursday, October 30, the company described the Minister’s claims, made in Parliament on October 28 and reiterated at the Presidential Accountability Series the following day as “false and misleading.” It said the remarks risked distorting facts and undermining Ghana’s progress in e-health digitisation.
Responding to the Minister’s assertion that the electronic medical records of Ghanaians were being “managed from India” without the Ministry’s access, Lightwave said the claim was entirely false.
“The electronic health data of patients generated through the programme remain the exclusive property of the Ministry of Health,” the company stated. “All data is stored in a central repository located at the Ministry’s data centre in Accra—not in India or any foreign jurisdiction.”
According to Lightwave, while the Ministry owns the data, the LHIMS software used to manage it remains the company’s intellectual property, licensed to the government under contract.
The company also dismissed the Minister’s claim that it had received 77% of the $100 million contract sum despite completing less than half of the project.
Lightwave argued that the Minister’s figures were misleading because the contract’s 950 health facilities carried different weights and cost allocations. “The successful deployment in just four teaching hospitals, for instance, accounted for 21% of the total contract value,” it explained.
The company maintained that by the time the contract expired on December 31, 2024, it had completed deployments in all teaching and regional hospitals as well as 243 district hospitals, entitling it to about 72% of the contract value.
Addressing delays in completing the project, Lightwave said the setbacks were mainly due to prolonged approval processes, payment delays, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Ministry was required to pay within 36 days of invoicing, but in practice took an average of 10 months,” it noted. “These delays created severe financial strain on the project.”
Lightwave also rejected claims that it supplied substandard or insufficient equipment, insisting that all hardware met contractual specifications and was subject to inspection and warranty clauses.
In response to the allegation that the company delivered fewer laptops than required, Lightwave clarified that the contractual quantity was 9,544 units, not 13,172 as stated by the Minister, and that deliveries to date correspond to the facilities deployed.
The company further contested the Minister’s claim that no money was owed to Lightwave, revealing that it is yet to be paid for eight months of post-contract work.
It also said it continues to support more than 200 facilities that remain active on LHIMS, including the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, and the Eastern Regional Hospital.
Lightwave urged an end to “uninformed commentary” on the matter and called for a constructive resolution to what it described as an “avoidable impasse.”
“The LHIMS has operated efficiently for nearly nine years. We remain ready to work with the Ministry to complete the remaining installations and ensure continuity of care for Ghanaians,” the company stated.
However, the Health Minister has announced a four-week plan to resolve the ongoing breakdown in the country’s electronic healthcare management system.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, October 29, the Health Minister disclosed that the government has procured a new platform, the Ghana Healthcare Information Management System, to address challenges and ensure the continuity of healthcare delivery.
The Minister attributed the recent disruption in the National Health Insurance Authority’s (NHIA) electronic hospital management system to Lightwave Health Information Management System Limited, the private company contracted to operate the platform.
He disclosed that various health facilities will be gradually migrated onto the new system within the next four weeks.
“The plan going forward is that in the next one week, we are going to begin with the teaching hospitals, the regional hospitals, and the highly populated district hospitals to roll them over onto the system.
“In the second week, we’ll be looking at the rest of the district hospitals. And then in the third week, we’ll be looking at the clinics, the health centres, and the CHPS compounds.
“So, I am confidently announcing to the good people of this country that we have a four-week plan that will get us out of this mess,” Mr Akandoh stated.
The system breakdown has caused widespread delays in record-keeping and patient processing, particularly in the Ashanti Region, where many hospitals have reverted to manual operations. Patients have since expressed frustration over prolonged waiting times and slower service delivery.
The Health Minister assured the public that the government remains committed to restoring and strengthening the nation’s digital health infrastructure.
“The medical records of Ghanaians would never go back to the manual way. We are moving forward — responsibly, confidently, and decisively,” he declared.
Explaining the cause of the system failure, Mr Akandoh revealed that in 2019, the government signed a $100 million contract with Lightwave to connect 950 health facilities nationwide to a unified digital health records platform.
“At this point, I would want to share with you the facts, as we inherited them,” he said. “The contract sum was $100 million to connect 950 health facilities. The contract was supposed to expire in 2022.”
He explained that the project was poorly executed, prompting multiple extensions until December 31, 2024, but even after five years, the company had failed to deliver as agreed.
“At the end of the expiration, out of the 950 facilities, only 450 had been connected. Clearly, nobody needs to tell you that the company underperformed,” Mr Akandoh remarked.
The Minister further disclosed that upon assuming office, the government requested that Lightwave hand over control of the system and its infrastructure to the state, as required under the contract. However, complications arose because the system was hosted on a cloud infrastructure in India, limiting Ghana’s access and control.
“We invited the vendor, but the contract had expired, and therefore, they must hand over to the state.”
he explained. “To have access to the medical records of Ghanaians without the state taking control, without even having access to the service, was unacceptable.”
A forensic audit, according to Mr Akandoh, revealed significant gaps in both the system’s functionality and the hardware supplied under the contract.
The Health Minister reiterated that his ministry is working to fully restore the electronic health management system and prevent a recurrence of such failures. He emphasized that future digital health projects will be executed with greater transparency, oversight, and accountability.
