Investigative journalist Manasseh Azuri Awuni has delivered a scathing assessment of the Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) contract, asserting that the state incurred an outright loss of over GH¢500 million for services that were entirely redundant and already functional within the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA)’s customs framework.
Core Findings and Redundancy
Mr. Awuni presented key evidence from the KPMG audit and the subsequent Presidential White Paper, confirming his claim of monumental financial waste. His central argument is that the government paid the colossal sum for services that, by its own official acknowledgement, should never have been contracted in the first place.
Awuni highlighted that the services SML was contracted for—External Price Verification and Transaction Audit—were ostensibly meant to prevent revenue leakage at the ports. However, these functionalities were already built into the GRA’s existing customs systems, such as the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS).
- Official Confirmation: Awuni emphasized that the redundancy was not a mere journalistic opinion but was officially confirmed by a reputable external auditor and government: “If you look at the KPMG report and former President Akufo-Addo’s white paper on the KPMG audit, it said that these services were already configured into the customs systems. So they were not needed…”
- Immediate Action: The evidence of redundancy was so overwhelming that the contracts for those specific services were cancelled immediately following the KPMG audit.
Financial Waste and Accountability
The journalist pointed out that despite the services being demonstrably unnecessary, payments continued for a significant period. The final financial blow is the non-recoverable amount paid to SML for work that was obsolete from the start.
“But we paid over 500 million Ghana cedis for something that KPMG, the presidency, the OSP and anybody who has their sanity intact and knows about these issues agreed: we don’t need it. Outright 500 million Ghana cedis lost.”
This finding aligns with recent developments from the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) regarding the “needless contract” and possible prosecutions of officials involved. The officials mentioned for possible prosecution include former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and former GRA boss, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah.
The revelation intensifies the focus on the officials responsible for contracting SML and approving the colossal, non-essential payments, revealing a clear timeline: redundancy established, leading to contract cancellation, but only after the state had already squandered over GH₵500 million.
