‘Honestly, I’ve forgotten about 2014 WC White Paper’
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said he has forgotten about the White Paper issued by the Mahama government on the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Ghana’s participation in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
“On these matters, truth is usually the best answer. To be honest, I’ve forgotten about the 2014 White Paper but I have no doubt my Minister of Sports is fully up to it and will advise, in due course, what should be the reaction of me and the government to it, but it has not been something that is very much on my radar,” the president said at a media encounter in Accra on Wednesday, 17 January, 2018.
The John Mahama-led government in 2015 released a White Paper on the report which called for investigations to ascertain claims of losses totalling $1,002,000 during Ghana’s matches with Cape Verde, Nigeria, and Togo ahead of the Brazil tournament.
It also called for a probe into claims by the GFA that an amount of $350,000 it received from Ghana’s friendly match with Japan was used to offset the deficit incurred in the Ghana – Cape Verde qualifying match.
Other issues to be probed included whether match fees for the Ghana –Holland and Ghana – South Korea friendly matches were eventually paid by the match agents or organisers after the request by Cabinet to the Ghana National Petroleum Authority (GNPC) to fund the matches; and how the funds were applied.
The GFA was also to be investigated on how it applied the FIFA World Cup preparation money of $1.5 million and the $2 million they received from GNPC before the World Cup vis-a-vis match-agent funding of the friendly matches to the World Cup to clear any doubt of double funding, misapplication or misappropriation of funds, how supporters were catered for during the tourney among others.
The White Paper was in three parts: the recommendations that were accepted, those that were not accepted and those that were accepted with modifications.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry was set up after Ghana’s shambolic performance at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and matters that arose when the team and officials were in South American country.
Source: otecfmghana.com
