Ghana Premier League legend, Charles Taylor, has claimed that Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif remains in his position due to President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo’s negligence regarding the ministry’s affairs.
Reacting to reports of an inflated budget for the 2023 African Games, Taylor argued that the Sports Minister should be barred from engaging with the Black Stars in their upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
He suggested that the minister should be dismissed for allegedly exceeding parliament’s approved budget for the African Games.
“The Sports Minister shouldn’t be allowed to be in and around the Black Stars for the Agola game. He has to stay away or step aside. The government should let him step aside. Akufo-Addo should let him step aside,” he said.
The former Asante Kotoko player believes Ussif‘s dismissal is overdue because the president is inattentive.
“Akufo-Addo is sleeping, I guess. If he is not sleeping, the sports minister would have been sacked. Imagine the money they’ve spent since he has been in office, but nobody asks questions. We don’t want nonchalant government in this country.”
African Games expenses saga
The government reportedly spent $245 million on the African Games hosted in Ghana from March 4 to March 23, 2024. According to the sports ministry, $195 million was allocated for infrastructure, with $145 million invested in the construction of the Borteyman Sports Centre, $34 million on renovating the University of Ghana Stadium, and $16 million on refurbishing the Games Village at Legon. An additional $47.7 million was approved as an operational budget for the games.
“The estimated amount of $47,712,853 is designated to cover the operations of the LOC. These operations include technical meetings with the Technical Committee for the African Games (TCAG), preparation of relevant guidelines, rules, regulations, and manuals, sensitisation efforts, payment for the games management system, accommodation for participants (including athletes, volunteers, and officials), internal transportation, airfare for officials, catering services, security, allowances, accreditation, medical equipment, athlete medals, office rent, logistics, equipment purchase, anti-doping services, and members’ allowances,” Mustapha Ussif said.
However, Kobena Woyome, a ranking member of the Youth, Sports, and Culture Committee of Parliament, raised concerns about the expenditure, with many demanding an investigation.
In a recent interview, Woyome revealed that participating countries paid a daily fee of $80 per athlete to the Local Organising Committee for accommodation and feeding. This contradicts the reported $15 million spent on feeding athletes during the games.
“What is staggering, which I think I haven’t mentioned in the previous interview, is that the participating countries that were housed paid almost $80 per person daily for food and accommodation. Yeah, they paid to the LOC,” he stated.
“So if all these monies were paid, then why do you have to spend $15 million for almost the same thing? We are not too sure, and there are things that we are not clear about, so we will go into this matter.”
Woyome’s revelation added to the controversy over the African Games broadcasting rights, where the Sports Minister claimed the ministry paid over $3 million to GBC for coverage. However, GBC’s Director-General, Professor Amin Alhassan, denied receiving this amount, stating that the state broadcaster earned $105,000.
