President John Dramani Mahama has today ordered the immediate cancellation of all contracts held by Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) across the downstream petroleum, upstream petroleum, and mining sectors.
This new move of the government was revealed by investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, who has deeply followed what many describe as a dubious “deal”.
The SML deal, a number of probes have revealed, raises questions of value for money, transparency, legality, and corruption.
After months of advocacy by the investigative journalist for the contract to be abrogated, Manasseh Azure, in his recent Facebook post, announced the President’s decision to heed to calls and cancel the contract.
The contracts, which collectively amounted to more than US$500 million over the first five years and were renewable for another five, will now not be implemented following the completion of work by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and pressure from investigative media.
“President John Dramani Mahama has ordered the immediate cancellation of all SML contracts, following the completion of work by the Office of the Special Prosecutor. The cancellation means the downstream petroleum sector, the upstream petroleum sector, and the mining sector contracts that entitled SML to fixed revenue would not be implemented,” the investigative journalist announced.
The original deal awarded to SML entailed fixed revenue shares, a portion of downstream petroleum product sales, a cut of upstream oil production revenue, and mining sector proceeds.
What raised alarm bells was how SML, originally a timber-industry offshoot, secured what critics say were opaque, sole-source contracts with little demonstrable track record beyond government work.
Investigative work by journalists, including Manasseh Azure Awuni, revealed that SML had publicly claimed Ghana had saved more than GHS 3 billion as a result of its services, claims that were later shown to be unsupported.
It signals a strong commitment from the government to hold large-scale public deals to account, especially those involving key strategic sectors like oil, mining, and downstream fuels.
It is also expected to send a message to investors and to the international community that transparency and value for money matter in how Ghana deploys its resources.
