Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has commended President John Dramani Mahama for the cancellation of certain contracts he described as “fraudulent and dubious” between the state and some private entities.
Mr. Awuni recounted how President Mahama has, on a number of occasions, responded to the outcome of his investigations on state contracts with private companies, commending him for always acting in the interest of the state by canceling contracts that are deemed “dubious and fraudulent.”
According to Mr. Awuni, the results of his first-ever investigative story on the “GYEEDA Scandal” did not go unnoticed, as President Mahama took stringent actions that saved the state millions of dollars.
The Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) scandal involved the National Coordinator, Abuga Pele, and a businessman, Philip Akpeena Assibit, who were alleged to have caused financial loss to the state, amounting to 4.1 million Ghana cedis.
From Manasseh’s account, these two individuals were later convicted and sentenced to serve a number of years in prison.
“President Mahama did a similar thing on my very first investigative story—the GYEEDA Scandal. Two people went to jail, and some lost their jobs; more than 10 contracts were cancelled, saving Ghana over $100 million; and a law—the Youth Employment Agency Act—was passed as part of sweeping reforms to stop the bleeding.”
Manasseh Azure Awuni, Investigative journalist and Anti-corruption crusader
One of Mr. Awuni’s investigative stories, as he recounted, involved the contract between the Youth Employment Agency and Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
According to him, this “fraudulent contract,” which he had been fighting for twelve years, was finally terminated this year due to President Mahama’s directive.
“In June this year, President John Dramani Mahama announced the discontinuation of the 19-year-old fraudulent contract between the Youth Employment Agency and Zoomlion Ghana Limited. I had been fighting that unconscionable deal for 12 years. The contract was worth GHS456 million a year.”
Manasseh Azure Awuni, Investigative journalist and Anti-corruption crusader
Mr. Awuni also recounted how he led investigations on a contract between the Ghana Revenue Authority and Strategic Mobilization Limited (SML), which he described as dubious.
Mr. Awuni and his team’s findings, which were made public, prompted then-President H.E. Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo to commission an inquiry carried out by a private company, KPMG, into the contract, and per the findings of the inquiry, parts of the contract’s implementation were put on hold while the company continued the implementation of other aspects of the contract.
However, Ghana’s Office of the Special Prosecutor also commissioned investigations into the said contract, and in the Special Prosecutor’s latest press conference in October 2025, he disclosed that the contract was mired with serious irregularities, legal violations, and financial damages to Ghana in excess of GH₵1.4 billion.
Mr. Awuni expressed his gratitude to President John Mahama, as he stated that “in October 2025, President Mahama ordered the finance minister to terminate the $500 million dubious contract between SML and the Ministry of Finance/GRA.”
He further recounted that he led investigations on another “dubious” contract between the Ghana Airport Company and the owner of the Strategic Mobilization Limited (SML). However, he emphasized that with this particular contract, the state did not lose any money, as no payment had been made before the cancellation of the contract by an order from President John Dramani Mahama.
“In July 2025, an investigation I led revealed how the Ghana Airport Company signed a dubious revenue assurance contract three days before the 2024 election. The shady deal was signed with a mining company owned by the SML CEO.
“That contract was cancelled as a result of the investigation. Thankfully, no money had been paid in this shady deal to the company, which had only one worker but deployed SML staff to implement the project.”
Manasseh Azure Awuni, Investigative journalist and Anti-corruption crusader
Mr. Awuni went further to add that he will likely demand more from President Maham and also criticize him in the future. He, however, assured the president that if he ever writes the story of his journalism and anti-corruption crusade, the president will feature in the “glorious pages.”
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