$7.2m Blown At World Cup

Even before the players of the senior National Soccer Team, the Black Stars are given their full bonuses, an amount of $7.2 million has been spent by government on per diem, protocol and souvenirs for Ghana’s participation in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The Minority in Parliament has described the expenditure as outrageous and profligate, calling on government to give a full disclosure on how the huge sum was spent.

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Akua Sena Dansua, indicated that $186,650 was spent on per diem, protocol - $100,000; souvenirs, laundry and other incidental expenses , $30,035.01; media relations - $50,000.00 and appearance fees $4,200,00.00.

The rest are winning bonuses, $2,541,500; transport, $6,608.29 and bank charges, $80,389.10 all expenses totaling $7,197,185.40.

The Minority, led by the ranking member on Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah in an interview with Daily Guide, questioned the expenditure, asking government to disclose to Ghanaians, the recipients of the disbursed money.

Hon. Asiamah, who is also the MP for Atiwa-Mponua, said the Mills administration could not throw such colossal figures at Ghanaians without telling them which individuals or groups received the money.

Earlier on the floor of the House, MPs could not interrogate the Youth and Sports Minister for her to give a detailed account of the expenditure because the House’s Speaker Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, had ruled that the stipulated time of one hour for questions had elapsed.

This provoked some of the Ministry MPs who angrily walked out of the House, since it appeared the Speaker was protecting the Minister from more probing questions.

She however ruled that the oral answer provided by the Minister be captured in the record of proceedings as having been answered. However, Hon. Asiamah called for a parliamentary inquiry into the matter to ascertain the veracity of the expenditure.

He was however overruled by the First Deputy Speaker and MP for Avenor/Ave, Edward Doe Adjaho, who took over from the Speaker and chaired proceedings later.

Mr. Asiamah insisted government should exhibit transparency and accountability in the management of the nation’s scarce resources, especially when people around the presidency consistently claimed the government had been cutting down on its expenditure.

“The expenditure figures are outrageous. It smells like the transitional committee tea expenditure. An expenditure that is too profligate and does not make sense to me, If you spend a huge sum of 100,000 Ghana cedis (One Billion old cedis) on protocol expenditure and you don’t explain that protocol. What is the meaning of that when school children are still studying under trees? About seven billion old cedis spent on accommodation and you don’t explain who benefited from it.“You also spent per diem of 1.8 billion old cedis without explaining which people benefited from it. And as we speak now, the Black Stars are yet to receive their appearance fees and you found it necessary to spend all these monies,” Hon. Asiamah told Citi FM.

It is not clear whether the amount presented by the Youth and Sport Minister excluded the expenditure incurred by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in flying hundreds of soccer fans who were largely NDC supporters to the World Cup tournament in South Africa.

Michael Owusu Darko Bonsu, son of Kojo Bonsu, the Board Chairman of the National Sports Council (NSC) was alleged to have been involved in a ¢7.2 billion scandal over the World Cup.It was alleged that Michael Bonsu aided by some public officials, presented documents with inflated figures to the government of Ghana to make gains.

According to the media reports, the money was allegedly paid to Posterity Capital Group (PTY), owners of the Muzinda Residence in South Africa and others. They allegedly received the cash in order to provide accommodation for about 1,100 Ghanaian soccer fans at the 2010 World Cup who were there to support the senior team, the Black Stars.

Both Kojo Bonsu and his son have since debunked the allegations, denying any wrongdoing in the financial saga.