The Technical Assistant to the Managing Director at Strategic Mobilization Ghana Limited (SML), Richard Marfo, has accused the Fourth Estate’s Manasseh Azure of making up parts of the GRA-SML contract he put in the public domain.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile, Saturday, Mr. Marfo was very emphatic that the contract as put in the public domain was tampered with and does not reflect a true representation of the terms the Ghanaian government and SML agreed to.
“We are claiming that Manasseh put those words together, simple. And at the right time, we’ll seek legal redress on this matter,” he stated.
While he admitted that he is yet to fully peruse the entire document put out in the public domain, he was certain that section 3.1 of the contract had been forged.
Section 3.1 of the contract deals with the tenure of the contract.
According to the documents in the public domain, the contract shall remain in effect for a period of 10 years from the effective date unless terminated.
“3.1. This Contract shall commence on the Effective Date and shall continue in effect for a period of ten (10) years from the Effective Date unless terminated as provided for in this Contract or extended by mutual agreement between the Parties,” it reads.
However, Mr. Marfo says the contract his company has with the government has a duration of only five years, and not the 10 years the displayed document is alleging.
“We are alleging that Manasseh crafted this and put it out there. I have not had the time to go through all that he published, but with 3.1 specific I can confidently say Manasseh did such a great disservice to the company and I don’t even know what to say. But I’m putting it out there that Manasseh crafted this thing; I’m alleging he did this,” he said.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) had earlier also made similar claims, refuting the alleged 10-year period.
“The new and consolidated contract which is for a term of five years and not ten years as alleged by the publication, and was agreed upon based on the performance of SML in monitoring the downstream petroleum sector and the provision of instant reconciliation of real-time data in the sector”, the statement signed by the Communication and Public Affairs Department of the GRA said.
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