Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has made allegations that the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah, who signed the contentious agreement between the GRA and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML), has left Ghana with his family.
Mr. Ablakwa claimed that the GRA boss departed the country with the assistance of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
The agreement is presently undergoing an audit by accounting and auditing firm KPMG, as instructed by the president. However, Mr. Ablakwa expressed concerns about the success of the audit as the GRA boss is out of the country.
“President Akufo-Addo must provide an immediate and sincere explanation to Ghanaians regarding 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 press statement on January 2, 2024, announcing that KPMG has been tasked to carry out an urgent audit into this questionable affair,” Mr. Ablakwa stated.
He continued, “My reliable tracking of Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah reveals that on January 3, 2024, he discreetly and swiftly left the jurisdiction with his family. 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 the last four digits being 5283.”
Mr. Ablakwa also noted that the GRA boss did not travel with his Service Passport, which had the last four digits 2702 and was issued to him as GRA Commissioner-General on October 3, 2019. This detail, according to Mr. Ablakwa, further confirms that Rev. Dr. Owusu-Amoah did not embark on an official trip.
“Now, we find ourselves in a situation where 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 six days left to report to the President,” the opposition lawmaker wrote on his X platform.
Read his full Facebook post…
SML SCANDAL— WHY IS THE AKUFO-ADDO/BAWUMIA GOVERNMENT PRETENDING THEY HAVEN’T ASSISTED THE GRA BOSS & HIS FAMILY TO RUN OUT OF THE COUNTRY?
Can the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government stop the despicable deception that they are seriously investigating the SML/GRA scandal.
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.
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 Owusu-Amoahs’ first travel destination when they left Accra a week ago was São Tomé and Príncipe, and continuous tracking appears to paint a picture of a family in no hurry to return to Ghana, that is if they will ever return.
In the January 2, 2024 press statement from the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia presidency signed by Mr. Eugene Arhin, Ghanaians were informed that “President Akufo-Addo has tasked KPMG to complete the assignment in two weeks, and submit appropriate recommendations to him.”
The release additionally indicated that the “President has directed the Ministry of Finance and GRA to provide KPMG with whatever assistance they will require for conduct of the audit.”
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.
Clearly, President Akufo-Addo’s much touted investigations into the SML scandal is nothing but a sham.
Painstaking investigations further reveal that Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah has told a few very close friends and allies that he will never return to Ghana, particularly after realizing that there’s an elaborate scheme to make him a scapegoat following Manasseh Azure Awuni’s brilliant SML exposé — even though according to Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah, he only carried out the wishes of the same notorious looting cabal.
The NDC Caucus in Parliament shall be demanding an urgent inquiry into how Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah fled Ghana; we shall seek to identify and sanction the conspirators who facilitated his disgraceful escape despite presidential assurances of an urgent high-stakes KPMG audit; we shall be committed to unraveling the subsequent silence, grand deception and attempted cover-up.
Ghanaians must resolve to do all in our power to vote out this fantastically corrupt Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP regime in this year’s election.
We must uproot this government of endless monumental embarrassments.
