GRA-SML deal: Manasseh Azure slams Akufo-Addo for rejecting request for full KPMG report

Ghanaian

Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has voiced concerns over President Akufo-Addo's decision to decline a request to disclose a complete audit report.

The report, recently submitted to him, concerns the revenue mobilization agreement between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilization Ghana Ltd (SML).

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) had filed a

Read full articleRight to Information (RTI) application seeking access to the comprehensive KPMG audit report.

In a letter dated May 7, 2024, the presidency rejected the MFWA's request. Manasseh, part of the MFWA team that reported on the "SML scandal," criticized Akufo-Addo's refusal, highlighting a similar action taken by Akufo-Addo's predecessor, John Dramani Mahama.

He recalled Mahama's release of a white paper and the full GYEEDA Report even before the Right to Information Law existed.

"What is Akufo-Addo hiding from us? The SML deal stinks. If they think hiding the KPMG report will make us forget the SML scandal, they should think again. The SML scandal will not die. And those behind it in the past and in the future will face justice, no matter how long it takes," Manasseh wrote.

The presidency, in its response, expressed regret over its inability to fulfill the MFWA's request, citing the RTI Act, which exempts information prepared for or submitted to the President or Vice President containing opinions, advice, deliberations, recommendations, minutes, or consultations.

The presidency stated that disclosure of such information would compromise the integrity of the deliberative process.

Despite the refusal to disclose the full KPMG report, the Presidency emphasized that the findings and recommendations of the report had been disclosed in a detailed press statement.