Professor Douglas Boateng, Chief Executive Officer of PanAvest International and Partners, has urged the government to leverage Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) platform to reduce revenue leakage in the extractive sector.
He described SML’s platform as “a generational innovation with the power to reshape how Africa governs, minimises revenue leakages, secures, and scales its industrial future.”
Speaking at the fifth anniversary celebration of the revenue assurance firm in Accra yesterday Prof. Boateng who is also a supply chain governance expert said SML represents innovation by intention, determination and perseverance” as opposed to innovation by import. “
The programme under the theme “The Five-Year Experience in the Downstream Petroleum Sector: Sharing the Achievements of SML”, was attended by key industry stakeholders, regulatory bodies and partners to reflect on SML Ghana’s contributions, achievements, and strategic interventions over the past five years in enhancing transparency, compliance and operational efficiency within the country’s downstream petroleum sector.
According to selected global thought leaders, the SML’s fused platform, until the end of the third quarter of 2024, was the only known system in an emerging economy operating at scale with proven multi-site, real-time data capture functionality,” Professor Boateng stated.
He stressed the platform’s potential beyond Ghana, envisioning a Ghanaian-built platform deployed across Zambia’s copper belts, Nigeria’s oil terminals, and Kenya’s utility corridors.
SML’s model, which operates on a full risk-reward basis with no government mobilisation fees, sets it apart from conventional government contracts.
The director of support services, Dr Yaa Serwaa Sarpong speaking at the event said SML had achieved transformative gains in the downstream operations for revenue collection through the deployment of innovative solutions for real time data collection and monitoring for tax purposes.
Dr Sarpong said SML, a wholly Ghanaian-owned company, was founded in 2017 and began operations in 2018, to use home-grown innovations to solve national problems.
She said prior to SML’s involvement in the downstream petroleum sector in 2020, a significant gap of over 243 million litres existed in monthly reported fuel volumes.
Dr Sarpong said with SML’s advanced data collection and monitoring systems, SML introduced a centralised platform that connected data from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), depots, and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
“Today, our end-to-end audit and revenue assurance have helped align both liftings and taxable volumes, bringing the monthly average volume benchmark from approximately 208 million litres for tax revenue collection to 450 million litres to match the actual lifting volumes,” she stated.
“From May 2020 to December 2024, the annual accumulation of excess gained volumes was approximately 14.1 billion litres, translating into tax revenue of over GH¢20 billion. The implication is that GRA can meet its annual target even before the deadline, whereas, prior to SML’s operations, GRA struggled to achieve this,” Dr Sarpong, stated.
She said in recognition of SML’s track record in revenue assurance through real-time monitoring, GRA expanded the company’s mandate into the upstream petroleum and solid minerals sectors in October 2023.
That contract, she said, was consolidated into one contract -Transaction Audit, Downstream Petroleum Audit, Upstream Petroleum Audit and Solid Minerals Audit, which was approved by PPA in September 2023.
“These sectors are now entering a new era of transparency and real-time oversight, thanks to the technological innovation and strategic thinking SML brings to the table. Today, SML stands at the forefront of an integrated, intelligent revenue monitoring solution, a first-of-its-kind innovative approach in Ghana’s extractive industries, ” Dr Sarpong stated.
The Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah said the coming of SML into the downstream petroleum sector was timely and the country could not have waited.
He said the company had deployed local solutions to address revenue and tax leakages in the downstream petroleum sector.
Mr Amoah said the revenue numbers churned out by the SML was not a fluke and urged the government to support SML to succeed.
- Prof Boateng (fourth from right) with management of SML and some dignitaries in a group picture after the programme
- BY KINGSLEY ASARE
