Award-winning Ghanaian journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has challenged former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s claims regarding his involvement in the controversial Strategic Mobilization Limited (SML) contract, which is currently under investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
Ofori-Atta, in a letter published by various media including MyNewsGH, denied being the “originating nor implementing Minister” in any of the corruption cases for which he is wanted.
However, Manasseh has refuted this assertion, presenting evidence that directly links the former minister to the SML contract.
“That assertion is false. Here is a letter on the shady SML contract. This letter said the Minister of Finance (Ken Ofori-Atta) had ‘determined’ that the contract should be expanded,” he stated.
Manasseh further disclosed that during his investigation into the SML scandal, the Minerals Commission and the Petroleum Commission—state agencies responsible for the sectors the contract sought to cover—revealed they had no knowledge of it.
“When I wrote to the Minerals Commission and the Petroleum Commission during my investigation of the SML scandal, they said they didn’t know anything about the contract. These are the state agencies responsible for the sectors Ken Ofori-Atta wanted the contract to extend to.”
He also highlighted that even the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the body responsible for revenue collection, was not involved in determining the scope of the contract. Instead, the GRA was only given the contract for review after it had already been signed by the Ministry of Finance.
“As this letter suggests, even the Ghana Revenue Authority was not involved in determining the scope of the contract, even though the GRA is responsible for revenue collection and losses.
“The GRA was handed a contract to make inputs because it had co-signed the original contract with the Ministry of Finance.”
Questioning the legitimacy of the contract expansion, Manasseh pointed out that SML had failed to deliver the solutions it claimed on its website, adding that when confronted, the company admitted to the false claims and removed them.
“On what basis did Ken Ofori-Atta make this determination when our investigation showed that SML was not delivering the solutions it claimed on its website? When we confronted the company, it admitted the false claims and deleted them from the website.”
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