How the NPP goofed in handling the commonwealth games disaster

…True facts about the 60 Journalist deported from Australia

The media space in Ghana was flooded with news of Ghanaians who posed as journalists to get access to cover the commonwealth games and got deported after their credentials and accreditation were found to be forged by the Australian authorities weeks ago.

This issue turned out to be a public relations nightmare for the Akuffo Addo administration who are already struggling to fulfill some of their campaign promises including, setting up a factory, providing a Million Dollars as well as providing dams for the various districts in the North and the rest of the country. In the haste to appease the general populace and address the issue of Ghanaian athletes (African contingent) deserting their post in the course of representing their nations in international tournaments and send strong warnings to wrong doers as well as cave into the political bashing from the minority, pressure groups/public opinion etc, the NPP made a huge mistake by making scapegoats out of certain individuals and heads of institutions without tackling the issue head-on and finding out the real criminals in the case. The Chairman and Director General of the Ghana Sports Authority as well the Deputy minister of Sports have all been suspended with flimsy excuses whiles the main criminals responsible for this unfortunate incident have been left off the hook.

After learning more about the issue, interviewing victims and learning about the exorbitant amounts involved in this cover-up, I can conclude that the Ghana Olympic committee were either negligent in the execution of their duties or connived, aided and abetted with some if not most of press houses to defraud Ghanaians looking for Greener pastures outside Ghana with the help of shady middle men.

1. The first point of deception is the lie told to the presidency by the Ministry of sports that the journalists who were deported were 60 in number. My checks from immigration states they were 15 in number. So the real question is how does a minister of state responsible for communicating to the presidency issues related to sports, including the athletics and other related matters get it so wrong from the onset? Was this a calculated attempt to throw some people under the bus?

2. All the processes involved, including the registration, validation and issuance of accreditations, etc were all conducted in later part of last year October/November before the international games committee chaired by the the then Deputy minister of Youth and Sports was set up in the middle of November. Journalist had started receiving or received their Visas before The ministry got involved, so why is deputy minister being blamed for the lapses that resulted from processes that were already in existence before he became chairman of the committee? What roles did the Director General and Chairman of the Sports Authority play here?

3. The registration process had media houses partnering with the Ghana Olympic committee and not the Ministry of Youth and Sports nor Sports Authority. The Data entry officers at the Olympic committee along with representatives from the various media houses were solely responsible for the number, information and details of their press contingents using emails and online portals provided by the International Olympic committee. So where do the 3 suspended men come in?

4. The approval/validation of registration of the press was done by the Ghana Olympic committee. Electronic Visas issued and printed by the various journalist were validated by the same Ghana Olympic committee before accreditation for press passes given. Under no circumstance could there have been interference by either the Youth and sports ministry nor the Sport authority unless in connivance with either a media house or the Ghana Olympic Committee or both. Either way it was the sole responsibility of the Ghana Olympic committee to ensure that all media houses that registered to go cover the Olympic games in Australia had their identifications validated before they could get press passes or buy their plane tickets.

5. In conclusion, There could only have been a calculated attempt by some media houses and their representative knowing the lapses in the registration processes involved in the commonwealth games and taking advantage of that to charge the ever gullible Ghanaian who wants to better their lives outside the shores of Ghana by charging them huge sums of monies to be part of their press contingent to cover the commonwealth games. Same goes for the Ghana Olympic committee who out of negligence in the execution of their duties in ensuring that Media houses present accredited sports journalist with good standing from Sports Writers Association of Ghana or using other mechanisms to ascertain the authenticity and credibility of people presented by these media houses to cover the games. The Ghana Olympic committee and the Media Houses are solely responsible for this unfortunate scandal and that is a fact that does not require the BNI or CID to use our resources to investigate.

In as much as I support the President not to condone with wrong doers in his party and fight corruption with all the resources available to him, suspending the 3 young politicians at the sports ministry without the substantive Minister makes the public feel that there is some sinister motive by the minister about the other 3 politicians he works with at the ministry. Mr President don’t kill a fly with a sledge hammer whiles crocodiles are crawling on your corridors . I can smell strongly that these three were sacrificed for a political reason which would be discussed later.

Kojo Poku
‭026 636 0080