Ben Boakye, executive director of the African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), said the Ghana Revenue Authority’s recent letter to the president was just buying time until state looting continues under the SML contract.
In a letter to Akufo-Addo, the GRA appealed to the President to allow the operation of the Strategic Mobilization Ghana Limited (SML-Ghana) system, which was set up to strengthen revenue guarantees for administrative purposes.
This comes after the President directed the suspension of the GRA/SML contract on January 2 and appointed international auditing and accounting firm KPMG to audit the contract and submit a report within two weeks. Met.
According to the GRA Director-General, Reverend Amishadai Owusu-Amoah, ceasing the operation of the installed SML systems would impact and disrupt operations.
“Based on careful consideration of the concerns and our own understanding of the contract and deliverables, the systems in place have been put in place to enhance revenue security, for administrative purposes and to support ongoing investigations. , we believe that the following may be possible: “We would be grateful if you would allow us to do so,” GRA’s letter read in part.
However, reacting on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Ben Boakye said: “The only people who believe we are saving money are the Chief Secretary and the Minister of Finance who signed this contract and He doesn’t seem to be a believing engineer.” On the ground. ”
He noted that both the auditing firm and the president have remained silent about the entire process, and that the president’s directive to audit the contract has not yielded any results.
He believes this is another tactic used to cool sentiment about the deal until the public moves on to other issues.
“I don’t think we should ask KPMG where they are at this point. The president gave them two weeks, so two weeks have passed.
“No one is telling us where we are in terms of the investigation. This whole investigation is just to buy us time so we can all forget about it and carry on with business as usual with so many people coming and going.” It seems like it was.”
“They’re just buying time and waiting for this situation to continue, and that’s the trend that I’m sensing from this incident. So these flight letters and communications are trying to convince people that these transactions are “It just buys some time while we navigate how to continue to rob the state from some,” he said.
According to Ben Boakye, Reverend Amishadai Owusu-Amoah has failed to disprove with facts and figures the allegations leveled against SML’s dealings and has not properly supported his demands for the continued operation of the SML system. He said he could not justify it. Letter to the President.
“So if the Secretary were to write to the President to say that the contract should be allowed to continue, what part of the contract would that be? Is it just oversight or is it downstream? Or is the composite contract number gold?” Are you talking about providing three revenue guarantee points, upstream and downstream?
“Is he isolating just downstream, or is he saying that the processes that have already begun, the contracts signed to enable guaranteed gold returns, should also continue?”
“Even when engineers raise concerns, real concerns, and tell everyone that they are not involved, that they cannot be the source of fear, that Ghana is losing revenue, that upstream continues. That’s just the finance minister sitting in his office and deciding that there’s a revenue leak here and there’s a revenue leak there,” he said.
Ben Boakye, Executive Director of the African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), said the letter written by the Ghana Revenue Authority to the President was deeply worrying.
In a letter to Akufo-Addo, the GRA appealed to the President to allow the operation of the Strategic Mobilization Ghana Limited (SML-Ghana) system, which was set up to strengthen revenue guarantees for administrative purposes.
This comes after the President directed the suspension of the GRA/SML contract on January 2 and appointed international auditing and accounting firm KPMG to audit the contract and submit a report within two weeks. Met.
According to the GRA Secretary-General, Reverend Amishadai Owusu-Amoah, ceasing the operation of the installed SML systems would impact and disrupt operations.
“Based on careful consideration of the concerns and our own understanding of the contract and deliverables, the systems in place have been put in place to enhance revenue security, for administrative purposes and to support ongoing investigations. , we believe that the following may be possible: “We would be grateful if you would allow us to do so,” GRA’s letter read in part.
However, Ben Boakye, reacting to the statement on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, said the GRA supported their demands with sufficient evidence to prove the alleged impact of SML’s suspension of operations. He said he was unable to do so.
“When the suspension was made, SML welcomed it and informed us that it would wait until the investigation was completed, which was expected to take place within two weeks.
“The Secretary waited for almost that amount of time to elapse and then sent a letter to the President, essentially telling him, ‘Mr. John.'” “Mr. President, you are the appointing authority. Even if you are wrong, But we’re just going to comply. We’re going to follow what you want, but we’re going to allow the system to continue.’ It is said that it was a decision. “The investigation is over, but I think it’s really, really concerning,” he said.
He added that the GRA’s failure to adequately rebut the controversy surrounding the SML contract with facts and figures is rather disappointing, adding to the opacity that has characterized government transactions. Ta.
“Also, the secretary basically writes five paragraphs to tell the president that the contract should be allowed to stand, but he doesn’t provide any data or evidence to tell the president why he’s wrong and he’s right. And the fact that we don’t provide it.” And that feeds into a broader situation of lack of accountability for what’s going on in this country.
“We have provided a wealth of data that shows this contract was not made based on reliable data, capabilities, and understanding of how the industry works.
“So if the Secretary continues to insist that it is in Ghana’s interest for this contract to survive, what he should do is challenge the data that has been published and have the conversation that the public is actually driving. I know he and the Minister of Finance are together. And it cannot be his genuine intention to save Ghana money, and he is still dodging the issue. ”
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