The fallout from the Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) contract scandal escalated as President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, delivered a scathing indictment, describing the controversial agreements as “cancerous”.
Mr Cudjoe asserted that the SML contracts represent a fundamental collapse of oversight, having failed at “every level of propriety”—from financial management to policy formulation.
Speaking on Citi FM on Saturday, November 1, 2025, Mr Cudjoe expressed profound dismay at the lack of basic governance standards applied to the agreements between SML and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Mr Cudjoe did not mince words, arguing that the SML arrangement was rotten at its core, irrespective of the technicalities. His comments follow the explosive findings released by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), which concluded that the contract was both unnecessary and unlawfully approved.
“I think the SML thing is cancerous. Beyond it being a duck and an elephant, it is just cancerous. I just can’t imagine that every level of propriety fails, financial, policy wise,” Cudjoe stated, referencing earlier metaphorical descriptions of the deal’s inconsistencies.
The think tank leader pointed to the sheer absence of rigour in the contractual process as the most damaging aspect. He highlighted that the failures were not marginal but systemic, suggesting a profound neglect of public financial management protocols.
“What even hurts me is that there seems to be no proper guiding policy as to how this thing should be done. I mean, the question is what was the level of need?” he questioned, underscoring the lack of a proper needs assessment report prior to the contract award.
Mr Cudjoe’s strong condemnation aligns directly with the detailed findings of the OSP investigation, which established severe governance deficits:
- No Genuine Need: The OSP concluded there was “no genuine need for engaging SML,” reinforcing Cudjoe’s policy concerns.
- Unlawful Procurement: The contracts were secured through “self-serving patronage and promotion based on unverified claims” and involved key officials ignoring mandatory approval processes, leading to significant statutory violations.
- Financial Disaster: The probe exposed that financial management and performance monitoring of SML were inadequate. Payments were reportedly made on an “automatic basis without verification of work completed”, resulting in substantial, ongoing financial losses to the state.
The convergence of the OSP’s official investigation into statutory violations and IMANI’s long-standing critique regarding value for money solidifies the argument that the SML contracts represent a severe failure of policy oversight and accountability, costing the Ghanaian taxpayer millions.