Christian Sottie, SML Boss
Despite negative media campaigns, the contract established between Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has demonstrated remarkable benefits for the nation.
Since the revenue assurance contract was executed in December 2020, a discernible surge in revenue has been observed.
Documents originated from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) indicate that revenue has increased by GH¢12,981,376,688.00.
The SML monitoring in the provision of audit and assurance services within the activities of the petroleum downstream in the first and twelve monthly averages are GH¢414,281,876 and GH¢450,175,163, while the first and twelve-monthly averages before the SML-GCNET era are GH¢238,618,139 and GH¢237,287,148 respectively.
It must be noted that SML was contracted to monitor upstream petroleum production and to audit the value chain of minerals and metal resources.
The new and consolidated contract, which is for a term of five (5) years, was agreed upon based on the performance of SML in monitoring revenue assurance in the petroleum downstream sector and the provision of instant reconciliation of real-time data in the sector.
GRA is confident that, with the introduction of various initiatives including technology and revenue assurance measures such as the SML contract, it will continue to see a significant increase in revenue such as the 50% year-on-year increase in revenue this year.
GRA further says it will continue to explore more innovative and efficient methods of blocking leakages and increasing compliance to attain a national Tax to GDP ratio of over 18%.
Meanwhile, renowned accounting firm KPMG is expected to release its findings on the deal to the general public.
The terms of reference of the audit are to conduct an audit to ascertain the rationale or needs assessment performed before the contract approval by GRA, and assess how the arrangement aligns with specific needs.
The audit was also to assess the appropriateness of the contracting methodology, verifying compliance with legal standards and industry best practices in the procurement process for the selection of SML.