The Director-General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), Mohammed Abdul-Salam, has provided an update on the status of the contractual agreement between the NLA and KGL Technology Limited, following a presidential directive for its review and possible renegotiation.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Face to Face on Tuesday, April 21, he explained that the process surrounding the agreement has gone through several levels of engagement involving key state institutions, including the Ministry of Finance, the Attorney-General’s Department, and the Presidency.
He said the matter was escalated for legal guidance after the NLA board initially wrote to the Attorney-General to clarify its position on the contract. According to him, the Presidency subsequently directed the formation of a committee to review the agreement comprehensively.
Mr. Abdul-Salam noted that the committee has completed its work, and the Presidency has since issued a directive affirming that the NLA has the mandate to enter into such agreements with private partners like KGL for regulatory and operational purposes in the lottery sector.
However, he stressed that concerns remain over the revenue-sharing arrangement, adding that the NLA believes the State should derive greater benefit from the contract than it currently does.
He said negotiations are ongoing following the review process, with the aim of improving the financial returns to the State and ensuring a more favourable revenue structure.
“We initiated processes, engagements which had to even go as far as the Ministry of Finance and even to the presidency. We had to be directed to involve the AG. Initially the NLA through the board wrote to the AG to give its position regarding the contractual agreement between the KGL and NLA. Then we had the presidency directing the formation of a committee to do a review of the contract and all that. Those process have been walked, there is a completion.
“The presidency has equally issued a directive indicating that it was within the NLA’s mandate to enter such agreements with KGL and others for the purposes for providing regulation for the industry except that in terms of the revenue share which we have always stated that the NLA needed to gain much more from that contractual agreement than it is presently having. The state stands to benefit. In that pushing you’ve had the committee formed, the negotiations are currently ongoing to bring about an improvement in the share of the state in terms of what monies come to us,” Mr. Abdul-Salam noted.
