The Ministry of Sport, Youth and Culture has released the final report of the Brazil 2014 World Cup tournament.
According to the report, some of the key representatives of the stakeholder institutions who were present at the inaugural meeting included the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Brazilian Ambassador and a representative from the Chief of Staff’s office.
The members of the Committee were further grouped into the following 6 major subcommittees:
1. Protocol & Supporters Welfare chaired by Hon. Kojo Adu-Asare, (Presidential Staffer representing the Chief of Staff).
2. Tourism, Culture & Creative Arts chaired by Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare (Min. for Tourism, Culture & Creative Arts).
3. Marketing chaired by Mr. Joel Nettey (Marketing/Advertising Consultant)
4. Events, Grounds & Logistics chaired by Mr. Horace Ankrah (Consultant)
5. Media chaired by Mr. Ackah Anthony (President, Sports Writers Association of Ghana).
6. Health, Sanitation, Safety & Security chaired by Alhaji Saeed Lartey (Head of Body Protection, National Security).
In addition to their core mandate of proposing ways of making Ghana’s
participation a success, various sub-committees engaged appropriate Service Providers through transparent shortlisting processes.
The Black Stars of Ghana qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the third time after emerging champion of its Group D comprising Zambia, Lesotho and Sudan.
During a play-off with Egypt (home and away) on 15th October and 19th November 2013 respectively to determine who finally joins other nations in the Brazil 2014 Tournament, the Black Stars played their hearts off to win on a 7-3 aggregate.
The report categorically stated that, Hon. Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah joined the team during the qualification stage and inspired the team in collaboration with the GFA to go past Sudan, Lesotho, Zambia and Egypt.
The Hon. Minister was also part of a delegation to Brazil for the FIFA World Cup Draw. The delegation was led by the Chief of Staff, Mr. Prosper Bani.
A Secretariat was established under the banner, “Ghana-Brazil World Cup Secretariat”. The Secretariat was run as a project to achieve the following objectives:
1. To activate support from corporate Ghana to enable the Ministry of Youth and Sports take supporters to Brazil.
2. To market the world cup to the Ghanaian populace in order to generate a nation-wide support for our Black Stars.
3. To plan and execute all the off-the-pitch activities that surrounded Ghana’s campaign.
The Secretariat was established as a branch-out entity under the auspices of the committee set up to organize all of Ghana’s off the-pitch arrangements for Brazil 2014.
The Secretariat started operation on 1st of April 2014 and the operational hours were between 9am to 5pm.
The report further explained that,
1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ claim of non-involvement is not true as evidenced in the minutes earlier tendered and picture above.
2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was well represented during the plenary stage by the Deputy Minister.
3. On the Protocol Committee it was represented by an Officer from the Ministry [Mr. Hanaan N. Asaku].
4. The Chief Protocol Officer [Mr. Enoch Osei- Mensah] was also part of the Committee and was involved in the deliberations at the subcommittee level.
5. The Ghanaian Embassy in Brazil was contacted. From the onset they consistently complained about lack of resources.
6. Owing to the serious financial constraints (according to the Ambassador) we had to pay for the flight of the two Embassy staff when we requested for their services in Natal. We also took care of their per diem and related expenses.
7. In fact the Ambassador made us aware that as at the time we were there, they were owing RENT and Electricity Bills among others and were totally cash strapped.
8. Also the Embassy was in Brasilia (2 hours flight away and 23 hours by road, and this made coordination very difficult).
9. Subsequently even when we contacted them to see if we could use their account for transfer, they proposed using the personal account of one of their officers – one Mr. Cudjoe, this we felt was inappropriate so we declined.
According to the report, when the Committee was formed, an account – MOYS-FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 was opened with Zenith Bank, which had agreed to be partner bank with seed money of GH¢230,000. Before the account was opened the Ministry had to write to Bank of Ghana and Controller & Accountant General’s Department for authorization.
There were four signatories to the account:
1. Chief Director, Alhaji Yakubu Abdulai [A]
2. Chief Accountant, Mr. Prosper Quarshie Apasu [B]
3. Deputy Chief Director, Alhaji Rex Sumani [A]
4. Deputy Chief Accountant , Madam Seini Hawa [B]
According to the mandate on the account A & B must sign at all times. It must be noted that the processes for accessing the
account was as rigorous as that of any MDA.
As part of the Montenegro negotiations in March 2014, the Players demanded $100,000 each and government delegation offered $82,500 as had been approved by Cabinet.
The players refused to accept the Cabinet approved proposal and so there was a stalemate.
It was reported that, it was in Holland that the team formally made a strong case that they will not accept the $82,500 offered by government and that their earlier position on the $100,000 hadn’t changed.
The Hon. Minister together with the GFA engaged the leadership of the playing body and impressed upon them to accept the Cabinet approved fees since he did not have the authority to vary a Cabinet decision and also cited the following reasons:
1. The state of the economy.
2. Reaction of Ghanaians back home
3. Appealing to their sense of patriotism
4. About their own potential gain, when we make a positive impact.
Read and Download below the full Ghana’s Final Report on Brazil 2014 World Cup
SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh
