According to Asaase News, their sources at the Jubilee House, the seat of the Presidency, has hinted that the President is likely to use his discretionary powers and release the report to the public.
“I can say on authority that both the letter to GRA and the press release from the presidency on the KPMG report on the GRA-SML deal captured, without omission the substance and essence of all the material findings and, it is important to add that the President gave not his recommendations to GRA but the totality, without reservation, of all the recommendations by KPMG.
“President Akufo-Addo very simply passed on all that KPMG recommended should be done about SML contracts, including cancelling two of them, suspending two others, and renegotiating the variable fee of the one that was recommended to remain but altered to have a fixed fee,” the Asaase News source at the presidency said.
The source further reckoned that “the report is yet to be made public because there is a sense that GRA must be allowed to recommend without any inordinate pressure the actual substance of the recommendations.”
The Presidency declined a request by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) for the full KPMG report on Wednesday, May 8.
The Chief Director at the Office of the President said “Upon careful consideration and in accordance with section 5 (1) (a) and (b) (i) of the RTI Act, I regret to inform you that your request has been refused.”
“Section 5 (1) (a) and (b) (i) states that information prepared for or submitted to the president or vice-president containing opinions, advice, deliberations, recommendations, minutes, or consultations, is exempt from disclosure and that disclosure of such information would compromise the integrity of the deliberative process by revealing the thought process, considerations, and influence on decision-making reserved for the highest offices of the land,” the statement added.
President Akufo-Addo received the KPMG report on 2 April 2024, 3 months after tasking the audit firm to investigate the GRA-SML deal. The government after reviewing the report, issued a press statement, directing the GRA to review the deal among other directives.