It was unnecessary- Ibrahim Adjei commends Mahama for ending SML deal

By Emmanuella Sarfo-Ntow November 3, 2025

Ibrahim Adjei, former Assistant Secretary at the Office of the President under former President Nana Akufo-Addo, has praised President John Dramani Mahama for ending the controversial Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) contract, describing it as an “unnecessary intervention.”

President Mahama ordered the immediate termination of all contracts between the Government of Ghana and SML following the conclusion of an investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).

Speaking on Breakfast Daily on Monday, November 3, 2025, Mr. Adjei said that, based on the evidence presented and SML’s mandate, the agreement was redundant, as the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) was already handling such functions.

“It is a good move. Given the facts that were presented to us, the deal was unnecessary because you have agencies within the Ghana Revenue Authority who do this work in terms of making sure that there is a lack of leakages in revenue mobilisation on the GRA side, and when you come to the upstream and downstream, they were mandated to do so. When you look at the evidence, it was an unnecessary intervention,” he said

Mr. Adjei further highlighted that the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) had previously rejected the SML deal due to concerns over the company’s age, lack of experience, and inability to demonstrate technical capacity.

“If the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) rejects you three times for single source finding on what basis, the company was four months old, they have not shown any historical capacity, technical know-how and more importantly, their capacity to deliver on what it says, the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) said no”, he added.

The directive to terminate the contract was formalised in a letter from the Secretary to the President, Dr. Callistus Mahama, addressed to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, instructing immediate steps to end all existing agreements involving SML.

The OSP, at a press briefing on Thursday, October 30, confirmed that its investigation into the revenue assurance contracts between SML and the GRA had been concluded, citing concerns about alleged procurement irregularities, contractual overreach, and value-for-money issues.