The ranking member of Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, has disputed Sports Minister Kofi Adams’ claim that all 431 people sponsored by the government to attend the FIFA World Cup in North America returned to Ghana.
The disagreement emerged after Adams appeared before Parliament’s Sports Committee, where he told members that every sponsored traveller had returned home following the tournament.
Assafuah, however, said the minister’s account did not reflect the information available to him, alleging that some of those who travelled had remained in Canada.
“I know that he sponsored his driver, Mr Otchere, who did not come back. The guy is currently in Canada,” Assafuah told Asempa FM in an exclusive interview.
The Old Tafo MP also claimed that a secretary from the Chief Director’s office who travelled as part of the delegation had not returned.
“There is a secretary at the chief director’s office who was sponsored as part of the 431. That person is still not back. Meanwhile, he’s telling the people of Ghana that 431 people came.”
Assafuah further alleged that some people who travelled with the delegation had presented themselves as staff of the National Sports Authority (NSA) despite not being employees of the organisation.
“Per my information, there are a number of people who represented themselves as staff of the NSA, who were not staff,” he said.
The MP also referred to a report by Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, which he said indicated that 45 people were seeking asylum in Canada after the World Cup.
“It means that there were people who were sponsored on a visa for the World Cup, and as soon as they go to Canada, they fail to come back,” Assafuah said.
The Sports Minister has maintained that all 431 sponsored travellers returned to Ghana after the tournament.
