Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni says the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) needs to recalculate the amount of money it seeks to recover from Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) over the controversial contracts awarded by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ministry of Finance.
Manasseh said he disagrees with the OSP’s estimated recovery of GH¢125 million, arguing that the state may have lost far more through the revenue assurance contracts.
Speaking on Joy News on November 3, which was monitored by NewsDeskGH, Manasseh insisted that the figure presented does not reflect the total financial loss to the state.
“If you take the 506 million cedis alone, and if you take only President Akufo-Addo’s white paper, it stated categorically that this service is redundant because GRA has built into its system the ability to perform the function,”
“So if this is the general consensus but we have paid 506 million Ghana cedis, then we have to take that money back.”
He further explained, “I disagree with the paltry sum which the OSP is charging. Because if you take the external price verification component alone, in 2024 alone we paid 166 million cedis for the component alone. And the whole of 2025, it was suspended in the first part of the year and then cancelled in the KPMG report. So why did we pay that money?”
“So I think the OSP has to perhaps redo its calculation and come up with better,” he said.
The OSP had announced that SML received over GH¢1.4 billion in public funds through contracts built on false claims, statutory breaches, and official patronage.
President John Dramani Mahama on October 31 also ordered the immediate termination of all contracts between the government and SML.
