The majority in parliament has shut down calls from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and CSOs petitioning President Akufo-Addo to make public the audit report from KPMG on the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) deal.
On April 29, the communication director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, while speaking on NDC’s “Moment of Truth Series” demanded from the government that the full report from KPMG, which informed the president’s decision to terminate the SML deal be made public.
“The NDC demands the immediate publication of the full KPMG investigative report on the dealings between SML and the GRA. Mr President, why are you hiding that report? That report was conducted and put together by KPMG after their investigation at the expense of the Ghanaian taxpayer,” he said.
In the same vein, social commentator and honorary vice president of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, demanded the president gracefully accept requests from CSOs regarding the urgent need to make the audit report public.
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“We are challenging the President to accept this patriotic offer. However, we insist on seeing the full KPMG report. We dispute their claim that any increase in petroleum consumption should be attributed to SML. We demand an open forum to show that the weight of expert opinion in Ghana is against any such claim,” he added.
Read Also:
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- Terminate all Illegal Contracts between GRA and SML- Sammy Gyamfi to Gov’t
- Bright Simons Calls for Transparency in Government Contracts with SML
- KPMG’s Report on the GRA and SML Deal, Government White Paper on the Report and Matters Arising
In direct contrast, the majority in parliament, led by the MP for Effutu, Afenyo Markins has hit out at the NDC, citing their lack of right to demand for the KPMG report to be made public. Addressing the media in parliament yesterday, May 3, the legislator indicated that the report is the sole property of the president and was made for advisory purposes only.
“There is no doubt on our minds that the document is for advisory purposes, it is an opinion which opinion is guiding Mr President in decision making. So it is not within the right of anybody to demand much as it is written in law that public documents, for the sake of transparency and good governance be released to the public and members of the public have the right to receive it. It is also a written bonafide of the President,” he argued.
He also said calls from the opposition to prosecute persons involved in the GRA-SML deal are unfounded and lack merit. He argued that there is yet to be any proof of misappropriation established against anyone.
“Now we are aware that our friends in the NDC are calling for certain prosecutions. I think that they have not paid attention to the whole issue and they only want to do politics as usual. Their call is unfounded for the simple reason that there isn’t any established proof of any officer of state causing financial loss to the state,” he added.
On Thursday, April 24, President Akufo-Addo through his communication bureau communicated the termination of the upstream petroleum and minerals audit services contract awarded to SML by GRA.
Following the release of his ‘white paper’, there have been several commentaries calling for certain actions to be taken, including the public publication of the KPMG report.
The majority’s statement may have a direct reflection on the perceived response of President Akufo-Addo to those demanding that he make the report public.
