Mr Amoah recounted his initial skepticism towards the company, fuelled by misinformation, which led to public criticism.
He made the remarks at the fifth-anniversary celebration of SML in Accra.
However, following a deeper engagement and firsthand observation of SML’s operations, Mr Amoah said that he had to backtrack on some of his utterances against the company.
He emphasised that COPEC’s earlier concerns about revenue losses due to petroleum diversions, as highlighted in their annual reports from 2015 to 2018, were being effectively addressed by SML’s real-time tracking and tracing systems.
Mr Amoah pointed out that SML’s intervention had provided “some space to sleep” for COPEC, knowing that the state revenue needed for national development was very now better safeguarded against diversion.
The Executive Secretary’s remorse comes against the backdrop of the Fourth Estate, an investigative journalism project that investigated contracts awarded to Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
In addition to this challenge, five civil society organisations filed a lawsuit demanding the recovery of $141 million already paid to SML.
However, Mr Duncan stressed that the GRA’s acknowledgment of SML’s positive impact on revenue collection should be a source of national satisfaction and encouragement for the company to expand its efforts.
Mr Amoah shared insights into a confidential GRA report, suggesting that the challenges observed downstream exist on a more significant scale upstream.
He urged the government to extend similar tracking and transparency mechanisms to the upstream sector to ensure Ghana received its fair share of resources.
Mr Amoah called for a cessation of the partisan politicisation of SML’s operations.
He noted that during electioneering periods, criticisms were often levelled as, against government initiatives, and SML might have become a “victim of our excessive politicisation of issues.”
“Now that the elections are over, I urge my colleagues in the CSO space to focus on the national benefit. If a company has anything useful to offer the broader Ghanaian society, SML as an indigenous company is one such company,” he said.
He encouraged SML to remain steadfast and not be disheartened by negative publicity, citing the experiences of other Ghanaian companies that have faced similar criticisms.
Mr Amoah commended the board, management, and staff of SML for their impact and expressed optimism for even greater contributions in the future.
GNA
