Accra: A comprehensive audit of the 13th African Games, Accra 2023, has uncovered significant procurement irregularities within the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), revealing how service providers were engaged without formal written contracts, service agreements, or other legally binding documents to back the arrangements, amounting to approximately GHS3,560,213.52.
According to Ghana Web, the 700-page audit report, conducted by the Ghana Audit Service, also examined GBC's role as host broadcaster for the 13th African Games in 2023, which was marred by financial irregularities totalling GHS580,042,347.40.
The audit report cited pervasive overpricing, unqualified contractors, ghost equipment, and the systematic circumvention of procurement laws, implicating three former top officials. The audit further estimated that GBC lost $4.96 million (approximately GHS59.5 million) in potential revenue due to poor broadcast management and marketing of the Games, largely attributable to leadership failures in overseeing GBC's role in the event.
The forensic audit commissioned by President John Dramani Mahama in 2025 into the African Games organised and hosted in Ghana in 2023 has revealed widespread cost inflation, irregular payments, and unsupported expenditure across contracts linked to the event. The Auditor-General has since submitted the audit report to Parliament.
The findings indicate that despite being appointed through a formal agreement with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, GBC failed to execute proper contractual instruments when engaging third-party service providers. However, the audit found that third-party engagements linked to that mandate were not supported by the contractual instruments required under public sector financial management and procurement rules.
According to the audit report, the lapses left key terms such as scope, deliverables, pricing, risk allocation, and dispute resolution undefined, raising procurement and accountability concerns. The findings revealed that three major entities were identified as having provided services without documented agreements, including The Production Room (TPR), Silicon House Productions, and Broadstem Co Ltd.
Auditors noted that no signed contracts, service agreements, or legally binding instruments were made available to substantiate the terms, scope, deliverables, pricing, risk allocation, or dispute resolution mechanisms governing these engagements. The audit further revealed that while GBC claimed to have requested the Public Procurement Authority's ratification of these procurements on 12th August 2024, official records indicated the request was not formally received until 2nd September 2024, approximately five months after the games had concluded on 23rd March 2024.
The audit places the total financial exposure at about GHS3,560,213.52, noting that no signed contracts or equivalent records were provided to substantiate the basis for selecting the entities or to demonstrate the obligations each party was meant to fulfil. Auditors recommended that Professor Amin Alhassan, GBC's Director-General, be sanctioned under Section 92 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), as amended.
Delayed PPA ratification and procurement irregularities were found across its Games-related engagements. In what the audit described as a particularly irregular transaction, GBC paid pound 57,000 (approximately GHS684,000) to The Production Room (TPR) under a training contract. Audit interviews and document review found no evidence whatsoever of training delivery.
The comprehensive report on the Audit Service website shows that a total of GHS2,245,515,037.44 was received and spent on the Games, which were hosted in Ghana from March 8 to 23, 2024. Despite this, the audit revealed an outstanding liability of GHS208,583,739.49.
According to the audit report, total financial irregularities amounted to GHS580,042,347.40, reflecting overpricing of doping tests, sports equipment, accommodation costs, vehicle-hiring contracts, vehicle brands, and high rental costs. Other areas of irregularity identified in the audit report include overpayment for undelivered or unidentifiable sports equipment, unrelated LOC payments, irregularities in accounting for Games donations, and others.
The objectives of the audit were to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of financial and operational controls related to the Games, as well as compliance with procurement laws, financial regulations, and contractual obligations. It also aimed to evaluate the proper use of public and donor funds, assess the integrity of management and accreditation systems, and review post-Games handling of assets and facilities.
The comprehensive audit report has recommended the recovery of the irregular amounts from Mustapha Ussif, former Minister for Youth and Sports, William Kartey, former Chief Director of the Ministry, and Dr Kwaku Ofosu-Asare, Local Organising Committee Chairman for the 13th African Games. Aside from the recommended recovery actions, it also demanded that the individuals are sanctioned across virtually every finding in the report in an effort to strengthen accountability and improve governance of future large-scale national events.
Among the financial findings is the revelation that the Ministry of Sports paid GHS38.9 million to Messrs Delovely Company Ltd under a sports equipment contract valued at $3.24 million, yet equipment worth $206,000 was never supplied. An additional lump-sum item of $408,000 labelled simply as 'Sports Equipment' lacked any specifications or supporting documentation.
Anti-doping tests conducted by Omni Speciality Product Limited were procured at pound 739,000, but benchmarking against WADA-accredited laboratory rates revealed that unit prices significantly exceeded prevailing market rates. The resulting price overcharge amounted to pound 572,000 (approximately GHS8.0 million).
The audit also found that accommodation for Games officials was contracted through JDK Travel and Tours at $150 per room per night for 500 rooms over 21 days, totalling $1.58 million. Market verification, however, showed that official hotel rates for the listed properties ranged from $50 to $70 per room, resulting in a justifiable total of approximately $735,000. The inflated component alone amounted to $840,000 (approximately GHS10.1 million).
The audit uncovered a systemic flaw in the structure of 14 major service contracts: they were awarded at fixed, predetermined lump sums for services that were inherently variable in nature. The result: GHS336.6 million was committed and paid without any verifiable alignment between contract sums and actual services consumed.
The audit identified what it described as 'Common Beneficial Owner and Related-Party Exposure' amounting to GHS150.6 million. Several companies that received contracts for the Games were found to share common ownership or beneficial control, raising concerns about undisclosed conflicts of interest and anti-competitive award practices in the procurement process.
Auditors flagged irregular and high-risk cash withdrawals amounting to GHS20.4 million from the Local Organising Committee (LOC) accounts. Payments were made in cash to third parties in violation of mandatory Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) requirements, and significant transactions were processed outside Ghana's Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
Physical inspections of the five major Games infrastructure projects revealed widespread construction defects. The cumulative rectification requirement is estimated at not less than $1.0 million (approximately GHS12.0 million).
One of the most alarming structural findings in the report concerns the near-total absence of competitive procurement. Single-source procurement contracts worth approximately GHS2.7 billion were awarded without any documented justification, as required by law.