The Fourth Estate’s Manasseh Azure Awuni is questioning the value additions Strategic Mobilization Ghana Limited (SML) is adding to the upstream petroleum and gold production sectors.
Following an investigation by the Fourth Estate on the works of SML regarding the amount of money they claim to have saved the country compared to what they have received for “no work done”, the organisation, in order to present their side of the story invited the media to its office at Community 22 in Tema, Tuesday, December 19, 2023, at 11 in the forenoon.
The company claimed in February 2023 that it had saved Ghana over GHc3 billion in revenue that would have been lost to the state but for its services in the contract it signed with the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
But according to the Fourth Estate’s report, its “investigation found this claim to be completely false”, adding that “the Managing Director of SML, Christian Tetteh Sottie, claimed he did not know about the figure when The Fourth Estate confronted him with counter evidence. He said the media, including the state-owned Daily Graphic, had taken a presentation SML made to the GRA board out of context and reported the wrong information. He said SML had called the journalists to draw their attention to the supposed error.”
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the GRA Wednesday, December 20, 2023, the consolidated contract gives SML more than $100 million a year noting that “By implication, if there is no value addition, SML is not paid.”
Reacting to the statement on Accra-based Joy FM same day, the Founding Editor-In-Chief of the Fourth Estate indicated that “if you ever get to interview any GRA official or any Ministry of Finance official who is defending this answer, just ask the simple question – What value additions is SML bringing to the upstream petroleum sector? What value addition is SML bringing to the gold production sector?”
Per Manasseh’s comments, the GRA’s claim is false and details of SML’s contract with the Authority extended by the Ministry shows “SML is not going to be paid based on value addition.”
As long as production takes, SML makes profit according to Mr. Awuni.
“The contract says they are going to be paid $0.75 per barrel of the 160,000 barrels of oil Ghana produced, so as long as there is production and as long as SML claims to be monitoring, they are going to take money,” he pointed out.
“The 160,000 to 170,000 barrels of fuel that is produced every day, SML if they start this project are going to make $120,000 – that is the $0.75 per barrel. If you go to the gold sector, they are going to make 0.75% of gold production that they will claim to monitor. It has nothing to do with value addition,” he added.
Until Ghana stops producing oil and gold, Manasseh says SML will not stop making money from the state.
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