Manasseh Azure Awuni, an Investigative journalist, has told the government that the Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) is blackmailing and telling lies following revelations about the company’s contract with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The Investigative journalist urged the government to recover more funds from Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML).
Cephas Boyuo, the lawyer representing Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), has said that, government is compelled to compensate the company if it chooses to terminate its contract with the Ghana Revenue Authority.
Speaking to journalists in Accra on Friday, November 7, Cephas Boyuo stated, “As for our client, the SML, if the government chooses to terminate our investment overlay, that is what the government needs to pay us. If somebody wants the job, the person can go ahead and apply for the job, but you shouldn’t seek to tarnish the image of SML in the quest of taking that job. That is what we are definitely not going to allow”.
Also, the SML lawyer further revealed that SML has submitted a detailed response to President John Dramani Mahama regarding his directive to terminate all contracts.
According to Cephas Boyuo, the documents presented to the President and A-G would help them appreciate the matters and form a fair, independent opinion.
He added, “Earlier this afternoon, we delivered a comprehensive response to the President on his directive for the contract between the Ministry of Finance, GRA, and SML to be terminated, which hinged largely on the report of the OSP.
“In the letter submitted to the President and also to the Attorney General, we provided documentary evidence to each and every paragraph and elaborated on the true and accurate picture of the GRA-Ministry of Finance-SML contract,” Boyuo said.
“We are confident that a review of the documents presented to the President and the Attorney-General would help them appreciate the matters and form a fair, independent opinion on the termination directive,” he added.
The SML lawyer also rejected the OSP’s findings, insisting that all payments made to SML were performance-based and fully verified.
However, Manasseh Azure, reacting to the SML Lawyer’s remarks on CITI FM, accused SML of misleading the public.
He further wondered about the assurance SML have that they are confident that they believe the contract termination will be reversed.
Manasseh Azure stated, “A lot of the things the lawyer said are false. And I’m wondering which assurance the company may have had from some members of government that they are confident that they believe things may be reversed”.
“They seemed to be patronising the Attorney General, Dr Dominic Ayine, and at the same time issuing threats that look like blackmail, if you cancel it, we will go and get money.
“It’s not automatic that if contracts are cancelled, you will get your money. If we have strict officials diligent enough to fight for our interest, I strongly believe we should be retrieving more money from SML than the OSP is talking about and not the other way round”, he added.