Ghana’s former Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta
Renowned investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has challenged claims by former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta regarding his involvement in the controversial Strategic Mobilization Limited (SML) contract, which is currently under investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
In a Facebook post on March 10, 2025, Manasseh dismissed Ofori-Atta’s assertion that he was neither the “originating nor implementing Minister” of any of the corruption cases under the OSP’s probe.
Backing his rebuttal with official documents, Manasseh Azure presented evidence directly linking the former minister to key decisions concerning the SML contract.
Among the documents he shared was a letter showing that the Finance Ministry, under Ofori-Atta’s leadership, had “determined” the expansion of the SML contract.
“That assertion is false. Here is a letter on the shady SML contract. This letter said the Minister of Finance (Ken Ofori-Atta) had ‘determined’ that the contract should be expanded,” he wrote.
According to Manasseh, even the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), which co-signed the original contract with the Finance Ministry, was only asked to provide input after the expansion decision had already been made.
Adding to the controversy, Manasseh revealed that both the Minerals Commission and the Petroleum Commission, state agencies responsible for overseeing the sectors affected by the contract were unaware of its existence when he reached out to them during his investigation.
He further questioned the legitimacy of the contract’s expansion, citing findings that SML was not delivering the technological solutions it had promised.
“When I wrote to the Minerals Commission and the Petroleum Commission during my investigation of the SML scandal, they said they didn’t know anything about the contract. These are the state agencies responsible for the sectors Ken Ofori-Atta wanted the contract to extend to.
“As this letter suggests, even the Ghana Revenue Authority was not involved in determining the scope of the contract, even though the GRA is responsible for revenue collection and losses. The GRA was handed a contract to make inputs because it had co-signed the original contract with the Ministry of Finance.
“On what basis did Ken Ofori-Atta make this determination when our investigation showed that SML was not delivering the solutions it claimed on its website? When we confronted the company, it admitted the false claims and deleted them from the website,” Azure stated.
His rebuttal follows a recent public statement by the former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who appeared to distance himself from the corruption allegations leveled against him by the OSP.
See Manasseh’s post below
MA