The Office of the President has declined the request from the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) to disclose the full KPMG report on the revenue assurance contract between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML).
The MFWA had invoked section 18 of the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989) to request a copy of the comprehensive KPMG Audit Report, which was commissioned by the President.
However, the presidency, in a statement released on Wednesday, stated that the request has been refused.
The statement explained that the complete KPMG Audit Report contains opinions, advice, deliberations, and recommendations that are crucial to the President’s deliberative process and hence qualify as exempt information under section 5 (1) (a) and (b) (i) of the RTI Act.
The President’s Office further stated that while understanding the public interest in the GRA-SML contract, the principal findings and recommendations of the KPMG report have been published in a detailed press statement.
This, the statement said, ensures that the public remains informed while respecting the statutory restrictions on specific disclosures.
The decision by the President’s Office to deny access to the full KPMG report has raised concerns among media and civil society organizations, who argue that transparency and accountability should be paramount in such high-profile contracts. The debate over the balance between the public’s right to information and the confidentiality of the President’s deliberative process is likely to continue.
Source:dailyguidenetwork.com
