M. Azure manufactured ’10-year’ GRA-SML contract -SML

The Managing Director’s Technical Assistant at Strategic Mobilization Ghana Limited (SML), Richard Marfo, has accused Manasseh Azure of the Fourth Estate of fabricating parts of the GRA-SML contract that was made public.

During an interview on JoyNews’ Newsfile, Mr. Marfo strongly asserted that the contract that was shared does not accurately represent the terms agreed upon by the Ghanaian government and SML. He stated, “We believe that Manasseh created those words himself, plain and simple. And in due course, we will pursue legal action regarding this matter”.

Although he admitted to not having fully examined the entire document that was released, he was confident that section 3.1 of the contract had been altered. This section addresses the duration of the contract. According to the version of the contract that was made public, it was stipulated that the contract would be valid for a period of 10 years from the effective date unless terminated.

However, Mr. Marfo contests this, asserting that the contract his company has with the government is for a duration of five years, not ten. He expressed, “We are alleging that Manasseh created this and put it out there. I haven’t had the chance to thoroughly review everything he published, but in regards to section 3.1, I can confidently say that Manasseh has done a great disservice to the company and I am at a loss for words. But I am putting it out there that we allege Manasseh created this; I strongly believe he did.”

The Ghana Revenue Authority had previously made similar claims, refuting the alleged ten-year timeframe. In a statement released by the Communication and Public Affairs Department of the GRA, it was clarified that the new and consolidated contract is actually for a term of five years, not ten, and this duration was agreed upon based on SML’s performance in monitoring the downstream petroleum sector and providing real-time data reconciliation.