Professor Isaac Boadi, Dean of the Faculty of Accounting and Finance at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), says while the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) must be allowed to carry out its mandate in the SML case, there should be finality to the matter to avoid continuous public debate.
His comments follow the OSP’s naming of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta as a chief patron in the controversial revenue assurance contract awarded Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML).
When we talk about this SML deal and OSP case, I have different opinions about this. Today we are mentioning this case; I ask myself, will the defendant be able to appear and be tried?” Prof. Boadi said.
“Today he is not well. He will be coming—will this person come and be tried? What are the exact charges that will be brought? I don’t know as I sit here. If you Google and check on the internet, there are different accusations and all that,” he added.
Prof. Boadi questioned the scope of the contract and whether a proper value-for-money analysis had been conducted.
“What is the scope of the contract and the value-for-money analysis? I have no idea. I ask another question—is SML operating or not operating at the moment? Who contracted SML? I’m sure it’s the GRA,” he remarked.
He further questioned whether the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) was recording increased revenue in SML’s absence, saying: “Is GRA increasing their revenue stream in the absence of SML? We are yet to know. What other avenues will GRA put in place to increase revenue? The last time the boss of GRA said Ghana will lose a percentage of our revenue — I don’t know if it’s because of SML.”
The UPSA lecturer maintained that while accountability was necessary, the broader concern should be value for money and national revenue performance.
“The key point is that I am looking at value for money here. I’m looking at companies that help increase our revenue flow as a country. If a company is found culpable and finds itself in this, the law must work. But again, how much are we losing in terms of revenue for us to leave the rest with them?” Prof. Boadi explained.
He also called on the GRA to strengthen its systems to capture tax from digital and online businesses.
“Today, businesses do not operate physically, having stores or shops—they operate online. What mechanisms is GRA putting in place to get these people to pay revenue into our state? We don’t know,” he stated.
Citing an academic study conducted by his team at UPSA, Prof. Boadi noted that SML had contributed to reducing revenue leakages, though he admitted there were broader issues outside their research scope.
“We did an academic exercise some months ago on SML, checking the revenue leakages in the country and the fact that they’ve been able to get some huge revenue to the country. But there are other issues beyond us—we don’t know,” he said.
He urged the OSP to act decisively while avoiding prolonged public debate.
“The law must work, but we must not always appear in public, always talking about this transaction. There should be a finality to this. From all indications, it appears OSP has a detailed case prepared, so if you have a detailed case prepared, what is next to do? Implement. That’s all—we have a lot in this country to talk about,” Prof. Boadi stressed.
Source: adomonline.com
