Bright Simons, Vice President of IMANI Africa, has responded to the recently released KPMG audit report on the controversial contracts and transactions between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML).
The over 300-page report was made public on May 22, 2024, after weeks of the presidency withholding its release, citing provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) law.
Mr Simons, who has been vocal about the need for the full report to be disclosed, highlighted major findings that revealed the deal to be even worse than initially reported based on the documentary that first brought the matter to light.
In a series of posts on X, Simons noted that the earlier summary by the Presidency had major gaps while outlining bombshell findings from his initial analysis of the report.
a. SML received close to 1.5 Billion cedis in payments not 1 Billion per the presidency.
b. KPMG saw the impact of taxes on increasing revenue. Clearly, that wasn’t SML’s work.
c. SML’s magical flowmeters never worked as specified throughout anyway.
d. SML refused to pay taxes on its fees from GRA.
e. Ministry of Finance deliberately refused to do Value for Money evaluation
On April 24, 2024, President Akufo-Addo received a request from the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) under section 18 of the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989) (RTI Act), for a copy of the KPMG report.
The President had commissioned KPMG on December 29, 2023, to conduct an inquiry to gain a clear understanding of the matters in controversy and to be properly advised in making necessary decisions.
Initially, the presidency refused to release the report, citing that the KPMG report contained opinions, advice, deliberations, and recommendations integral to the President’s deliberative process, and thus qualified as exempt information under section 5 (1) (a) and (b) (i) of the RTI Act.
However, a detailed press statement outlining KPMG’s findings and recommendations, as well as the President’s directives to the Ministry of Finance and GRA, was published at the time.
After initially deciding not to release the full audit report by KPMG, the presidency announced in a statement dated May 22 that the report had been released despite earlier exemptions raised under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
“The President, in the interest of full transparency in governance, openness, and honesty with the public, has decided to waive the privilege under section 5 of the RTI Act and has directed the publication of the KPMG report in full,” the statement signed by Communications Director, Eugene Arhin read in part.