Nat’l Tymes News Desk
A GROWING number of voices are demanding a full investigation into how former Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Julie Essiam, approved a controversial $29 million tax administration contract for an Indian company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), despite several red flags raised by official review bodies.
Julie Essiam, who replaced Rev. Dr. Amishaddai Owusu-Amoah as GRA boss in 2023, is accused of unilaterally signing the Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) contract with TCS—an agreement earlier rejected twice by the Central Tender Review Committee (CTRC) and questioned by the GRA Board.
Before Essiam’s appointment, TCS had failed to meet key requirements, including the 80% technical score and 30% local content threshold. Instead, local company Axon Information Systems won the competitive process, according to documents reviewed by KPMG.
Despite this, Essiam went ahead to sign the contract without parliamentary approval, without ministerial approval, and without witnesses for the Ghanaian side. She later told Parliament that TCS had won the bid review—an account critics say was false.
A committee chaired by Joe Ghartey later reviewed the contract and issued damning findings, including:
No parliamentary approval,
No ministerial approval,
Annual support fees of about $5 million after the initial $29 million payment,
A clause allowing TCS to sell the contract to any third party without consulting GRA,
Serious questions about value for money.
These findings raised concerns about Ghana’s data sovereignty and the future of domestic tax mobilization.
The matter was reported to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), but there has been no clear update on progress.
The controversy has resurfaced after the government recently went to Parliament seeking a $10 million tax waiver for the same contract—a move critics say is shocking, given the unresolved concerns surrounding the deal.
Observers are now asking why no firm action has been taken, and why Essiam appears shielded from accountability even after serious questions were raised about the procurement process, transparency, and the accuracy of her statements to Parliament.
Some have dismissed claims that the IMF pushed for a foreign company to handle the ITAS project, noting that the IMF does not interfere in national procurement processes—something Essiam herself admitted in Parliament.
While many Ghanaians are encouraged by recent improvements in the economy, critics warn that ignoring such high-profile concerns could damage confidence in the government’s promised reforms.
For them, the big question remains: Why does it appear that no one is willing to hold Julie Essiam accountable?
Source: Nationaltymes.com
