Brazil 2014 Saga Was �Plain Thievery� � Casely-Hayford

Sidney Casely-Hayford has described the revelations at the Commission of Inquiry set up to examine issues surrounding the Black Stars' participation in the Brazil World Cup as thievery. Mr. Casely-Hayford said he was aghast at the fact that �contracts which were signed and understandings which had been made� had been changed in Brazil. On Tuesday, it was revealed at the Commission by Horace Ankrah who chaired the Grounds, Events and Logistics Sub-committee that, $35 per head was paid for cooking for each Ghanaian supporter in Brazil, despite agreeing on an amount of Ghc34 with caterers. The Sports Minister at the time, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, in response to the uproar over the revelation, explained on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday that it would have been unrealistic to feed the supporters with Ghc34 ($10) a day and released a statement to that effect. However, Mr. Casely-Hayford, speaking on The Big Issue on Saturday, believes the whole process was a deliberate ploy by some people to siphon state funds. �I think that we should define this thing as thievery; this is plain theft that happened. This is not incompetence. This, the way it is unraveling, is a deliberate attempt by a group of people to make as much money as they can from the Black Stars.� He questioned the amount of money spent on cooking for the supporters and the treatment of the caterers in Brazil. �Who provides Kenkey and Sardine at $35 a day? That�s over Ghc115 [at the current exchange rate]," he queried. �The cost of living in Brazil is lower than the cost of living in Ghana. And [The caterers] were asked to bring samples every time they came to talk to the Committee. If that isn�t blatant corruption I don�t know what is,� he added. �That was totally unnecessary.� Mr. Casely-Hayford also pointed out inconsistencies in the reports of the issues with the flying of the supporters to watch the Black Stars matches. �If you engage a proper company to fly your team, and there is a problem with the original flight, they have to provide another one because you have paid them. �Now we have to find out if they paid them and in case they did, did we get value for money? If they didn�t where did the money end up? He stated that he was convinced the whole process was a deliberate plan to siphon funds and not simply a matter of incompetence on the part of officials. �I don�t hear Fred Darko Elvis taking responsibility. I don�t hear Afriyie-Ankrah taking responsibility, I don�t hear anyone else taking responsibility.� �This is not a botched-up situation. It is a deliberate attempt to siphon money out of a particular project. It is a clear program to steal money," he opined. Several people involved with the Black Stars campaign in Brazil have already appeared before the Commission with a few of them shedding tears while being questioned; including former Youth and Sports Minister Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah.