The Honourary Vice President for IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has compared the contract between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Ltd (SML) to a reincarnation of the controversial Agyapa deal.
During a detailed presentation on the expectations of SML’s role on Joy FM’s Newsfile, he highlighted that the SML task was expanded to include minerals and petroleum, despite the contract being questionable.
“We are completely certain that when you try to expand this SML service to cover the minerals and petroleum it was simply Agyapa [deal] in suit and tie.
“When Agyapa failed, somebody suggested that if we cannot get the percentage of the royalties that we wanted from every ounce of gold sold in Ghana, then we will do even more, we will add the oil as well and we will create a mechanism to get a certain percentage out of that,” he said on Saturday, April 27.
Mr. Simons questioned the feasibility of accurately determining oil production and calculating royalties, especially considering concerns about the reliability of data provided by oil companies.
He criticized the GRA’s reliance on mechanisms to establish royalty payments, highlighting the inherent challenges associated with monitoring and regulating the extraction and sale of petroleum.
“It doesn’t make any sense to try and claim that because the Tullow and other companies are lying about the oil produced, you will use some mechanism to try and establish that.
“And for every barrel of oil produced, you will then be entitled to a percentage. what logic is that?” he quizzed.