North Tongu Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has disclosed new information implicating President Akufo-Addo’s daughters in the controversial $34.9 million ambulance spare parts deal with Service Ghana Auto Group Limited.
Mr. Ablakwa, who initially exposed the deal and petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate potential corruption, shared documents on Facebook on July 24. These documents suggest that the company’s favorable treatment was due to its connection to the president’s daughters.
Service Ghana Auto Group Limited received $10 million in February this year after the former Finance Minister approved the payment five days before leaving office. The Auditor-General found that the company was illegally engaged and paid for eight months before the government officially awarded the contract.
According to the Auditor-General, Service Ghana Auto Group Limited was tasked with providing maintenance services in January 2020, even though it was incorporated in April 2020. Mr. Ablakwa criticized the government for awarding the new $34.9 million deal despite findings of procurement breaches, inflated invoices, and lack of value for money.
Mr. Ablakwa revealed that one of the directors of Service Ghana Auto Group Limited, Stephen Okoro, is closely associated with two of President Akufo-Addo’s daughters, Gyankroma and Edwina Akufo-Addo. Okoro and Gyankroma Akufo-Addo are directors of SFO Initiatives Limited, incorporated in 2013 for various construction and farming activities. Additionally, Okoro partnered with Gyankroma and Edwina Akufo-Addo to incorporate Goodbox Limited in August 2020, and later, Good Grow Limited for cannabis farming.
Mr. Ablakwa suggested that the Finance Minister’s approval of the deal was motivated by familial interests, aiming to benefit the president’s daughters and their business associate. He emphasized the need to prevent the payment of the remaining $24.9 million and called for a thorough investigation by the Special Prosecutor.
“The conundrum about why Stephen Okoro’s Service Ghana Auto Group Limited enjoyed such remarkable preferential treatment and a unique dispensation which allowed procurement laws and other laws to be disregarded with impunity now makes sense,” Mr. Ablakwa stated.
He concluded by expressing hope that the Special Prosecutor would conduct an impartial investigation and ensure the government does not proceed with the additional payment.