Akufo-Addo’s U-turn on KPMG report not surprising – MFWA

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has said President Akufo-Addo’s decision to release the full KPMG report  on the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) contract is not surprising.

The release on Wednesday, May 22, follows weeks of calls for transparency and accountability regarding the contract’s details and execution.

The President on January 2 commissioned KPMG to audit the contract with an initial deadline of January 16, 2024, later extended to February 23, 2024.

On May 8, the Presidency declined a Right to Information (RTI) request by MFWA seeking the full KPMG audit report.

In a post on X, MFWA Executive Director, Sulemana Braimah stated the President’s U-turn was in the right direct.

“It’s good they realised they were wrong in hiding behind exemptions to refuse our request,” he wrote.

Mr Braimah also urged the Presidency to better understand the exemption provisions to avoid similar situations in the future.

KPMG Report: The U-turn by the President isn’t surprising. It’s good they realised they were wrong in hinding behind exemptions to refuse our request. I urge the Presidency to try and have a better understanding of the exemptions provisions to avoid future U-turns

— Sulemana Braimah (@sulemana) May 22, 2024

Meanwhile, the full report among other things revealed that from September 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021, a bulk payment to SML covering invoices for eight months, did not have Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax (WHT) deductions amounting to GH¢13.38 million.

Also, SML failed to fulfil its statutory obligations by neither filing returns nor remitting the taxes to GRA.

In addition, GRA’s six contracts with SML were without the approval of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and Parliament.

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