The ranking member on the Youth and Sports committee was making a submission during the debate on the approval of the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Speaking later in an interview with the New Statesman, Mr Asiamah said he raised the issue about the Maputo scandal in view of the fact that the Ministry of Youth and Sports appeared to have been bedevilled with a lot of alleged corrupt deals over the years.
“What is very worrying is that over the years no action had been taken against those mentioned in the corrupt deals and so many people had kept on engaging in various forms of financial malfeasance with gross impunity.”
In the view of the MP, the malfeasance that characterised the activities of the National Sports Council in respect of the All African Games “was so grievous that they cannot be swept under the carpet.”
The National Sports Council, under the leadership of Worlanyo Agra, as the Chief Executive Officer, presented a total budget of GH¢808,955.00 and US$2.2 million for 232 contingents who participated in the 2011 All African Games in Maputo.
Ghana’s team performed poorly due to many administrative lapses, according to report by the Nii Adote Din Barima committee that was set up to probe the activities of the National Sports Council.
The report among others accuses the National Sports Council of breach of procurement regulations, corruption in awards of contracts, undermining of administrative procedures, non-utilization of funds and missing $32,100.
According to the report, a sum of GHc356,725 that was meant for general kitting for the officials and athletes was not utilised.
“The Committee finds that out of a total sum of GH356,725.00 cedis voted by Government for the purchase of general kitting for athletes and officials , not one pesewa was spent or utilized for that purpose. Thus, Ghanaian athletes and officials went to the Games without branded or national wear supplied by the National Sports Council. Nigeria, for example, came to the Games with at least four different uniforms, not to mention straw hats, caps, which had all been branded in national colours,” he report states.
Again out of a sum of GHc185,925 earmarked “for the purchase of kits, equipment, and accessories for the needs of individual sporting disciplines participating in the Games, only GHc44,000.00 was spent on three sports associations, leaving many associations without any kits and accessories.”
The report also accuses the leadership of the National Sports Council of over-centralised use of power, thus preventing any check on the abuse of procurement procedures.
“Power was so highly centralized in the hands of a few individuals in the NSC leadership that it was virtually impossible to check the abuses of the procurement rules. The Chief Executive single-handedly awarded Royal Derby Tours a contract worth US$620,000, to lift over 200 athletes and officials to Maputo for the All African Games. He also awarded Kwashie Tailors a contract worth GH66,000.00 cedis to sew suits for 205 athletes and officials . Furthermore, he awarded Trafix Catering Service a contract to feed an undisclosed number of athletes and officials for undisclosed number of days at an undisclosed unit price. In the end, the contractor presented an invoice for GH92, 265.88 cedis which was paid instantly without anybody in authority asking any questions,” he report explains.
According to the report, the Managing Director of Trafix Catering Service, Madam Bella Ahu, “was overpaid to the tune of Gh48,804”, after presenting an invoice for the feeding “of 200 athletes and officials for 20 days at the cost of GH20.00 per day, totalling GH80,000 cedis.”
The invoice included GH231.20 for water, plus 15 per cent of VAT, Gh12,043, all amounting to GHc92,265.88.
The committee gives its verdict: “However, by our calculations per information received from the General Secretaries about their respective teams, Trafix could actually have fed only 148 athletes and officials over different days that numbered fever than 20 in the case of virtually all the teams. Because there was actually no contract document stating the unit price per plate, the committee reverted to the feeding cost of GH18.00 per day, which Trafix had charged the National Sports Council for only the Unity Games.”
The Nii Adote Din Committee further uncovered that there was no contract specification, as well as contract documents for any of the contracts awarded by the National Sports Council and that “some of the documents presented to the Committee were either after-thoughts or outright fabrications.”
The committee also was shocked to discover that no one in the National Sports Council carried out the basic task of monitoring and supervision to ensure that the contracts were delivered according to acceptable standards.
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