SML Ghana reaffirms commitment to close revenue leakage gaps

Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) has said its involvement in the downstream petroleum sector has significantly reduced revenue leakage resulting in increased revenue for the state.

The company said its presence in Ghana in the past five years, despite the negative perceptions and criticisms has contributed positively to Ghana's revenue generation.

Speaking at a ceremony in Tema on Tuesday, May 13, 2025 during which the company celebrated its fifth anniversary of entering the petroleum downstream sector, the Director of Support Services at SML Ghana Ltd, Dr. Yaa Serwaa Sarpong, reaffirmed the company's contributions and desire to extend its expertise to Ghana’s upstream petroleum and soil minerals sectors.

She said prior to SML’s involvement in the downstream sector in 2020, a significant gap of over 243 million litres existed in monthly reported fuel volumes adding that with SML’s advanced data collection and monitoring systems, they have introduced a centralised platform that connects data from the National Petroleum Authority, fuel depots, and the Ghana Revenue Authority.

“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 said 

Dr. Sarpong said 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 c 20 billion in additional tax revenue secured for the state adding that “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.”

Mandate renewal

Dr. Sarpong said in recognition of SML’s track record in revenue assurance through real-time monitoring, the GRA has expanded their mandate to cover the upstream petroleum and solid minerals sectors. 

“This contract 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 tabl

She said SML was at the forefront of an integrated, intelligent revenue monitoring solution, a first-of-its-kind innovative approach in Ghana’s extractive industries adding that their vision was now Pan-African. 

Dr Sarpong asserted that the challenges of revenue leakages and under-reported resource flows were not unique to Ghana but cut across the African continent with African countries losing about $90 billion in illicit financial flows annually, according to the African Development Bank Group. 

“Across the continent, governments are seeking credible partners who can help them harness the full value of their natural resources. SML is ready ,with the expertise, the tools, track record and groundbreaking innovation, to support that continental transformation.” She said

Capacity 

The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers(COPEC)  Duncan Amoah lauded SML's role in revenue assurance particularly noteworthy in the downstream petroleum sector. 

He particularly praised the company for deploying of real-time monitoring systems which had significantly improved the accuracy of revenue tracking and reduced discrepancies. 

He said SML's expertise was not in doubt stressing that apart from being instrumental in minimizing revenue leakages has improving overall transparency in the petroleum sector. 

Mr Amoah said his previous criticism SML was based on half truths and that having been appraised with the operations of SML, he  has come to the understanding SML was  indeed enhancing revenue collection by the GRA adding that some of the criticism were purely political.

The Chief Executive Officer of PanAvest Internationl and Partners, Prof. Douglas Boateng said SML had shown that it was possible to reset the data-capturing clock to help minimise revenue leakages in selected sectors of the economy such as pertrouem and mining and called for a mindset change and support from Ghanaian owned businesses

Prof. Boateng who is also the President of Institute of Operations Management (IOM) Africa said if SML was supported, the company would help the GRA to collect more revenues, to support Ghana’s our industrialisation agenda, create jobs, improve infrastructure for healthcare, education delivery and enhanced agriculture.

Writer’s email: Benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh