Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has once again slammed the controversial Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) contract, alleging that the state lost over GH¢500 million on services that were entirely unnecessary.
Speaking on JoyPrime’s Prime Insight programme, Manasseh argued that the contract, which involved external price verification and transaction audits at the ports, duplicated functions already being performed within the Ghana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) customs system.
“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, but these services were rendered and we paid over 500 million cedis for these services,” he said.
He further urged Ghanaians to consult the official documents to understand the scale of waste and oversight in the matter.
“Anybody who cares to know, read President Akufo-Addo’s white paper on the KPMG report. Even before the Special Prosecutor came out, they said the external price verification and the transaction audit which SML claimed to be doing at the Ghana ports were not needed.”
According to Manasseh, the KPMG audit prompted the government to take corrective action, but only after massive financial damage had already been done.
“So those contracts were cancelled as soon as the KPMG audit was done,” he disclosed.
He lamented that despite the clear findings from multiple credible institutions, the state had already paid vast sums for redundant services.
“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,” he stressed.
