According to a thorough audit report published by KPMG, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) entered into six undeclared service contracts with Strategic Mobilization Limited (SML), which is a major increase over the number previously confirmed by the presidency. This disclosure exposes significant procedural inconsistencies in the GRA’s contracting procedures and goes against previous declarations from the presidency, which had only acknowledged three deals.
President Akufo-Addo released the report to the public on May 22. It described the nature and existence of these contracts, all of which lacked the necessary approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA). This violation of Act 663’s amendments to the Public Procurement Act represents a serious lapse by the GRA and calls into question the openness and integrity of public procurement in Ghana.
The contracts outlined in the report span from June 2018 to July 2020, covering services ranging from transaction audits to the measurement of downstream petroleum products. These services were critical to the GRA’s operations but were initiated without following due process, sidestepping necessary regulatory approvals. This oversight came to light following investigative reporting by The Fourth Estate, which uncovered numerous irregularities in the contracts held between SML, the Ministry of Finance, and the GRA.
The KPMG audit was commissioned as a direct result of the presidency’s swift response to the discoveries. The audit is conclusions supported the first reports and showed that SML had exaggerated how successful it was at addressing revenue losses in the petroleum industry. The Managing Director of SML, Christian Tetteh Sottie, withdrew the erroneous claims from the company’s website after acknowledging their mistakes.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta amended SML’s contracts in 2023 to include services in the gold and oil industries, dramatically boosting the contractual sum to nearly $100 million yearly. This is a concerning move, given the current audit and increasing public scrutiny. This choice was taken despite unanswered concerns regarding SML’s effectiveness and adherence to legal obligations.
The KPMG report’s release has heightened calls for changes to Ghana’s public procurement procedures. Measures that would guarantee increased accountability and openness are coming under pressure from stakeholders, especially when it comes to the awarding and management of government contracts. The importance of monitoring functions in preventing such breaches has been underlined by the report, in addition to the necessity of strict adherence to procurement legislation.
