The directive from President Akufo-Addo for an audit into the controversial Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) contract is a slap in the face of the Legislature, according to the Member of Parliament for South Dayi.
The President, after ordering for an audit into the contract also asked the GRA to suspend payments to the company until the auditing has been completed.
But Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, the MP, says he cannot fathom why the Executive would issue another order to the GRA when that had already been done by the Legislature.
He is asking if the GRA was going to disregard the order from Parliament, necessitating another one from the President.
“Parliament is about to go into the matter and has directed suspension of payment, so why is the President giving another directive that payment should be suspended? Does it mean that the earlier direction given by Parliament, directed at the GRA to suspend payment has not been respected?” he quizzed.
Speaking on the KeyPoints Saturday, January 06, 2024, with Alfred Ocansey on TV3, the lawmaker also alleged that people are raising concerns over the involvement of KPMG in the matter because of integrity deficit of its franchise in other jurisdictions.
“Why are people concerned about the President’s directive? Because first, KPMG would have to be paid for the work that they would do. [Secondly,] KPMG as a private entity in itself has a very bad franchise in these matters. I can give you a litany of scandals that the KPMG franchise has been involved in other jurisdictions. So I don’t think KPMG ought not be the entity [mandated to audit this contract],” he told asserted.
The private legal practitioner alleged further that “they’ve done audit in other jurisdictions where their audit have been established to be fraught with faults. They’ve been penalised in many jurisdictions for engaging in audits by concealing facts from the situations in companies.”
According to the legislator, the company’s records in other jurisdictions make him “fear whether KPMG would do a job and tell us the true situation on the matter.”
He is further asking if the Legislative order given to the GRA to suspend payments was disregarded, causing the Executive to come out with same directive over the discontinuance of the terms of the contract.
Background
A year-long investigation by Evans Aziamor-Mensah, Adwoa Adobea-Owusu and Manasseh Azure Awuni of The Fourth Estate, revealed that the company (SML), with the help of a section of Ghana’s media, had made false and unsubstantiated claims of its operations that have served as the basis for the payment it received.
The Fourth Estate asserted that, it appears the Ministry of Finance and the GRA were aware the claims were false, for some officials of the GRA said they had confronted the company about its claims of savings and volumes on two separate occasions.
A few hours after the reporters confronted the management of SML with the findings of the investigation and asked for a response, the major services it claimed to render to the government disappeared from the company’s website.
The investigation also uncovered that at a time players in the downstream petroleum sector were questioning the relevance of SML’s involvement, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, initiated a more outrageous deal that would entitle the company to over $100 million every year for the next 10 years.
A documentary released by the Fourth Estate showing these alleged corruption in the contract stirred a public conversation on the issue with Parliament indicating their intentions to commence a probe into it.
The GRA, also in a release debunked the Fourth Estate’s report, and corroborated what SML has said in its response to the contents of the documentary.
Following the back and forth and counter allegations from the respective quarters, President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, ordered an audit into the contract by KPMG.
“Accordingly, KPMG, an Audit, Tax and Advisory Services firm, has been appointed to conduct an audit into the transaction, which was entered into to enhance revenue assurance in the downstream petroleum sector, the upstream petroleum production and minerals and metals resources value chain,” a press release dated Tuesday, January 02, 2024 and signed by the Director of Communication at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, stated.
It added that the Terms of Reference of the audit are as follows: “i. conduct an audit to ascertain the rationale or needs assessment performed prior to the contract approval by GRA, and assess how the arrangement aligns with specific needs; ii. assess the appropriateness of the contracting methodology, verifying compliance with legal standards and industry best practices in the procurement process for the selection of SML;
iii. evaluate the degree of alignment between current activities and the stipulated contract scope, identifying any deviations; iv. evaluate the value or benefit that SML has so far offered to the GRA through this engagement; v. review the financial arrangements, including pricing structures, payment terms and resolution of any financial compliance issues; and vi. submit a report on your findings on the above, together with appropriate recommendations.”
The press release added that, “President Akufo-Addo has tasked KPMG to complete the assignment in two weeks.”
“The President has directed the Ministry of Finance and GRA to provide KPMG with whatever assistance they will require for conduct of the audit, and has also directed the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority to suspend the performance of the contract, pending the submission of the audit report, including any payments presently envisaged under its terms,” the statement concluded.
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