GRA/SML Contract: You must delete your falsehood and apologise to GRA boss - Okudzeto Ablakwa told

Dennis Miracles Aboagye has demanded an apology from the Member of Parliament for North-Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, over some comments he made about the immediate past Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Commissioner-General, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah, in the controversial GRA/SML revenue assurance contract.

Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa accused Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah of eloping from Ghana to escape the repercussions of his actions regarding the contract.

He is said to have signed the controversial agreement between the GRA and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML).

“President Akufo-Addo must immediately offer a sincere explanation to Ghanaians on the circumstances under which the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah who signed the dubious SML contract was allowed to travel out of the country with his entire nuclear family less than 24 hours after Akufo-Addo’s 2nd January 2024 press statement announcing that KPMG has been tasked to carry out an urgent audit into the sleazy affair,” he said.

“My unimpeachable and irrefutable tracking of Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah reveals that on January 3, 2024, he led his family to swiftly and clandestinely leave the jurisdiction. Exactly a week ago, the entire Owusu-Amoah family departed at 17:10 on TAP Air Portugal, flight TP 1527 from KIA-Terminal 3. Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah used an ordinary Ghanaian passport issued on June 14, 2019, with its last four digits being 5283.

“Interestingly, the runaway GRA boss did not travel with his Service Passport with 2702 as its last four digits. A Service Passport which was issued to him as GRA Commissioner-General on October 3, 2019. This development adds another layer of confirmation that Rev. Dr. Owusu-Amoah has not embarked on an official trip,” the opposition lawmaker wrote on his X platform.

He added; “Now here we are, the GRA boss who is to be audited has been surreptitiously assisted to leave the country. It is also worth noting that KPMG has only about 6 days left to report to the President”.

But the KPMG, an audit firm, directed by President Nana Addo to investigate the contract and ascertain the truth, has exonerated both the GRA boss and the SML in their findings presented to the president.

According to the report, the allegations levelled against the GRA boss and the management of SML were false as it revealed that there was no payment of $100 million from the government to SML, no shady contract and also cleared the company of other malpractices.

Speaking on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo", Dennis Miracles bemoaned the damage that Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa has done to the GRA boss' reputation and the image of his family.

"What you have done to this man, if you don't go and delete it, for the rest of his life and his children's life; whenever the man's name is googled, this will come up as one of the stories about the man. What is even more painful is that as for the man, he is on retirement but what about his children?

"His children will be seeking jobs in the future and will be told that there was a time that your father eloped from the country because he had stolen money or committed a crime. Because this is not coming from an ordinary person but the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Parliament, the Member of Parliament for the people of North-Tongu. Why do we do this to ourselves as a people?"

He wondered if the parliamentarian would apologize, withdraw, and delete his demeaning statements about the GRA boss.

"The other painful thing is that when the contract was signed, he hadn't even spent two or three days in office. Why do we do this ourselves? Now that KPMG has concluded their investigations and found out that your unimpeachable and unrefutable investigation is false. Are you coming back to come and apologize? I know in everything I believe in this country that they are not coming to apologize... They will never come back to this issue and for the rest of the life of this man's children... this thing will continue to hang on them online," he exclaimed.

"What wrong did this man do?", he expressed disappointment in Okudzeto Ablakwa and reminded him of the impact of his post; stating the things he said "to the extent that you were putting the man's flight itinerary online and giving times of travel with his passport details" will continue to haunt the GRA Commissioner-General and his family.

"How can we be so wicked?" he fumed.

He admonished Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa to do the "honourable thing... apologize to the man".