Accra: Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah has responded to the Minister of Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams' claim that he requested and received three tickets for Ghana's 2026 World Cup group-stage game against Panama.
According to Ghana Web, Assafuah confirmed that he received the three tickets but rejected the suggestion that they were personally allocated to him, insisting they were part of an official allocation to members of Parliament's Sports Committee. In a statement posted on social media, Assafuah said the tickets were allocated through the Clerk of Parliament following a directive from the Vice Chairman of the Sports Committee, Kuyon Solomon. "Yes, I received them. But this was not a personal allocation. The tickets were officially allocated to members of the Sports Committee through the Clerk, at the direction of the Vice Chairman, Kuyon Solomon. The allocation is on record," he said.
Assafuah further clarified that all Sports Committee members who traveled to the United States were entitled to the same number of tickets, regardless of their political affiliation. He specifically mentioned the committee's Chairman, Ernest Henry Norgey, as among those entitled to the allocation, alongside other members from both the NPP and NDC.
Assafuah's response follows comments by Adams in an interview with TV3 in which the Minister said Assafuah had requested three tickets for the Ghana-Panama fixture, with each ticket valued at US$450. Assafuah questioned whether the ticket issue adequately addressed the wider concerns surrounding Ghana's World Cup expenditure. "If this is the Minister's response to the serious questions on World Cup expenditure, then perhaps the questions remain unanswered," he added.