The terrible NLA-KGL deal: President Mahama orders review of contracts

President John Dramani Mahama has ordered a comprehensive review of the disreputable contracts between the National Lottery Authority (NLA) and KGL Technology Limited.

Credible sources within government have confirmed to The Fourth Estate that the President issued the directive for the review of the contracts on December 24, 2025, through a letter signed by his Executive Secretary, Dr. Callistus Mahama.

In the letter, which referenced publications of The Fourth Estate, the President ordered the Attorney General and the Finance Minister to, with immediate effect, set up a joint technical team to subject the NLA-KGL contracts to a comprehensive review.

The  President’s decision marks a decisive and far-reaching moment for public accountability and the protection of state interests.

In the letter, the President is said to have directed that the outcome of the review and decisions must ensure complete protection of the public interest, value for money, and strict compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Specifically, the directive from the President requires the joint Ministerial Technical Team that is to be set up, to, among other issues, examine the legal basis, scope, duration and financial terms of the contracts. The technical team is also expected to examine the compliance of the contracts with the Constitution of Ghana, the Public Procurement Act and the National Lottery Act.

The Presidential directive also explicitly stated that where the review establishes grounds for renegotiation of the NLA-KGL contracts, the team must ensure that the revised terms secure improved fiscal returns for the state, strengthen governance and accountability, and preserve the NLA’s regulatory authority.

The Presidential intervention follows a series of publications by The Fourth Estate in 2025 that revealed questionable licensing deals between the NLA and KGL. These deals deprived the NLA and the state of significant financial resources. 

In 2024, the NLA signed three separate licensing contracts with KGL. One is a 15-year licensing deal for KGL to exclusively operate NLA’s most prized 5/90 lottery online and via USSD mobile short code in Ghana.

The other two are 10-year licenses granted to KGL to exclusively operate NLA’s 5/90 lottery online and via USSD mobile short code in Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire, respectively. 

The Fourth Estate’s analysis revealed major legal, financial and procedural issueswith the controversial licensing deals.  

First, although the National Lottery Authority Act designates the NLA as the sole body authorised to conduct or operate lotteries in Ghana, aspects of the KGL agreement and its execution effectively authorise KGL as a lottery operator rather than a Lotto Marketing Company (LMC), which is the only role permitted under the law for private entities.

Section 28 of the NLA Act, provides that all LMCs of the NLA shall sell lottery on behalf of the NLA and be paid a commission determined by the NLA Board. Thus, no LMC is allowed to operate or sell lotto and keep the money for itself as if it were an extension of the authority.

However, although aspects of the KGL licences designate it as a Lotto Marketing Company (LMC), KGL does not receive commissions from the NLA on its sales. Instead, KGL pays licence fees to the NLA, as well as predetermined amounts to the NLA’s Good Causes Foundation and the Lotto Stabilisation Fund.

Secondly, Section 32 of the NLA Act says, “there is established by this Act, an account called the Lotto Account.” The law requires that all proceeds from sales of National Lotto by LMCs must go directly into the Lotto Account. However, revenues from the sale of the NLA’s 5/90 by KGL as an LMC, do not go into NLA’s Lotto Account. KGL keeps the money in its own accounts. In fact, NLA does not even know how much KGL makes from its (NLA’s) business.

Thirdly, the NLA law states in Section 32 (3) that the NLA shall use funds in the Lotto Account to pay lotto winners and also pay the appropriate commissions of LMCs as determined by the NLA Board. But under the NLA-KGL deal, KGL pays winnings directly from its own account and keeps the rest of the revenues in its accounts.

Section 32(4) of the NLA Act states that the NLA “shall transfer the net balance in the Lotto Account every month to the Consolidated Fund” of the Republic of Ghana. However, official figures provided by the Ministry of Finance to The Fourth Estate revealed a very troubling and systematic pattern of decline in NLA’s contribution to the Consolidated Fund since the NLA-KGL deal was first signed in 2019 before subsequent renewals were made in 2024.

In 2018, the year before the start of the NLA-KGL deal, NLA’s contribution to the Consolidated Fund was GHC37.1 million.

In 2019, which was the year in which the NLA-KGL deal commenced, NLA’s contribution to the Consolidated Fund decreased to GH¢17.7 million. The following year (2020), the pattern of decrease continued to GHC16.4million. Then in 2021, NLA’s revenue for the state further decreased to only GHC6 million.

In three consecutive years – 2022, 2023, and 2024, the NLA contributed zero into the Consolidated Fund, which defeats the purpose of setting up the NLA as stated in Section 2(1) of the NLA Act.

While the NLA contributed nothing to the national purse, KGL was earning millions of cedis in profit from its exclusive online and USSD sales of the NLA’s 5/90 lottery. In 2024 alone, the company made GHC70 million in profit from the NLA business, according to the Executive Chairman of KGL.

Major media pushback and the PR war

The Fourth Estate’s public-interest publications on the NLA-KGL deal received massive pushback through pro-KGL publications by major media outlets and KGL-sponsored publicity stunts.

Many media organisations dedicated an inordinate amount of column inches, web pages and airtime to running pro-KGL publications and discussions to discredit the revelations by The Fourth Estate.

Indeed, many social media commentators expressed surprise at why mainstream media in Ghana was not giving attention to the significant revelations by The Fourth Estate on the NLA-KGL deal. 

But the silence would soon make sense. The leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) hosted a KGL-sponsored GJA awards launch, which was used by the Executive Chairman of the KGL, Alex Apau Dadey, as a platform to attack The Fourth Estate.

At the said event, which featured paid live coverage by a number of media networks, Mr Dadey described The Fourth Estate’s publications about the NLA-KGL deal as “sensational and irresponsible” journalism.

Subsequently, journalists with The Fourth Estate who had been shortlisted for the 2025 GJA Awards withdrew in protest after the GJA rebranded the event as the GJA-KGL Media Awards. It was the first time in the association’s history that the GJA had co-shared the name of its annual awards with a sponsor.

The President’s intervention is thus evidence of the triumph of credibility over propaganda and PR.

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