Sanaa:Vincent Ekow Assafuah, the Ranking Member on Parliament's Youth and Sports Committee, has reiterated his allegations regarding irregularities in Ghana's 2026 World Cup visa arrangements. He has challenged those who doubt his claims to take legal action.
According to Ghana Web, Assafuah asserts that he possesses documents supporting his allegations about questionable names and portfolios submitted to foreign diplomatic missions for World Cup travel. He has declared his readiness to defend these allegations in court.
Assafuah specifically claimed that the Ghana Tourism Authority submitted 50 names to the US Embassy as media personnel, but only two individuals, Philip Narh and Andy Dosty of Multimedia, were verified as genuine media practitioners by the embassy's Fraud Prevention Unit.
He further alleged that some individuals involved in these arrangements paid between US$8,000 and US$9,000. He questioned how people allegedly unassociated with public institutions were presented under institutional identities to foreign embassies.
Assafuah has called for the removal and possible prosecution of officials he believes may have been involved in these alleged irregularities. He warned that the submission of questionable identities to foreign diplomatic missions could harm Ghana's reputation.
The Minority in Parliament has previously called for investigations into the roles of the National Sports Authority, the Ghana Tourism Authority, the Sports Ministry, and other entities associated with the visa arrangements. They have also questioned the assignment of non-existent positions within the NSA's organisational structure.