News:
July 2, 2014
The Minority Caucus in Parliament is demanding an establishment of a bi-partisan Parliamentary Committee to probe the scandal that rocked team Ghana, in the ongoing 2014 World Cup in Brazil leading to the country’s early exit from the competition.
Pursuant to this, the Ranking Member on the Committee on Youth and Sports and Member of Parliament for Atwima Mponua, Isaac Asiamah has filed an urgent motion in Parliament asking for the body to be set up.
The Minority said the poor performance of the Black Stars and its attendant dishonorable acts by certain state officials should be thoroughly investigated to avert a repeat in the future.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, Hon. Isaac Asiamah condemned the government over its handling of the players $ 3M appearance fee which it ferried via a plane to Brazil, noting that the government blatantly flouted its own directive which it introduced through the Bank of Ghana on the trading of goods and services in dollar currency.
“At the time when the nation is in crisis and our international reserves and foreign balances are fast depleting and the Bank of Ghana is making strenuous efforts to stabilize the Ghana Cedi, it is reckless to cause football players to hold the nation to ransom” he said.
He further deplored the poor treatment given to most of the supporters in Brazil, as they could not watch the games live at the stadium but had to watch from TV sets in their hotel rooms.
“Brazil 2014 has witnessed yet another bizarre flight arrangement. Most fans missed the matches of they had hoped to watch. In our group match against Portugal, over seventy (70) fans who were led by government officials including for MP for Adenta, Kojo Adu Asare arrived in Brazil just after the Black Stars had crashed out of the tournament. The early exit of Ghana and the affliction of the supporters represent the fruit of poor organization, poor planning and display of gross incompetence and constitute a grotesque waste of public funds”.
The minority caucus expressed its doubt about the credibility of the work of the committee that will be set by President John Mahama as he hinted, saying a lot of committees of enquiries have been set up under this government which actually produced no results.
Ghanamps.gov.gh