Sports Minister: Culprits of Maputo African Games Probing Will Be Prosecuted If...

Youth and Sports Minister, Hon Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah has told parliament that his ministry has given an ultimatum to members of the Sports Ministry who were cited for some misappropriation of funds during the Maputo games in 2011 to respond to allegations against them or face the law. The Ministry of Youth and Sports is said to have overspent close to 200m cedis in 2012 and cannot account for it. Even though the budget estimates for 2013 have been approved, the minority members in the Youth and Sports committee are demanding accountability for the monies expended. A member of the Committee, Hon. Isaac Asiamah is also asking government to prosecute members of the Sports Ministry who were named for embezzlement of funds during the Maputo Games. Speaking to Peacefmonline.com, Hon Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah said the ministry has called on members of the committee who are involved to defend the allegation or face the law. �The Maputo committee, the ministry itself asked the Auditor General to appoint auditors which he did. When they (the auditors) brought their report, they submitted a draft report and then the ministry wrote to the various people who were involved to respond to the issues that were raised. �In law, if you accuse someone you must give the person the opportunity to defend himself�So we(the ministry) have given them(the Maputo committee members) the opportunity to write and I issued that letter and said we should give them up to the end of the month to respond. When we get that report then we will forward it to the auditor general and then he will take action from there. We cannot take actions when we have not heard their side of the story,� he said. According to the Minister, he has promised parliament that there will be �action� if they are found guilty of disbursing government funds without accounting for it. It will be recalled that the Ministry of Youth and Sports set up a Committee chaired by Nii Adotey Din Barima to investigate the circumstances leading to the embarrassment of the national athletics team during the All Africa games in Maputo Mozambique in 2011. The report indicted then boss of the National Sports Authority, Mr. Worlanyo Agrah and the current Chief Sports Development Officer of the National Sports Authority Mr. Erasmus Adorkor. The two were accused of corruption in the awards of contract and a lack of supervision of contracts. Mr.Adorkor was also to be held liable for an amount of $32,000 that went unaccounted for as chef de mission. The findings of the Committee are yet to be implemented after almost a year after its release.