The Minister of Youth and Sports, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah yesterday goofed in Parliament when he said the amount of GH24 million presented by his deputy Joseph Yammin to the Youth, Sport and Culture committee of Parliament was the total amount of money needed to enable the national soccer team, the Black Stars, to prepare and fully participate in next year�s World Cup, is merely speculative.
The Deputy Minister was said to have authoritatively told the Parliamentary select Committee on youth, Sport and Culture when he appeared before it to defend the ministry�s budget estimates for 2014 in the absence of the minister that GH24 million would be needed for the Black Stars preparation and participation in next year�s World Cup in Brazil, but the substantive minister, who came to parliament to move the motion for the approval of the ministry�s budget estimates, said the figure given by his deputy was based on conjuncture.
This prompted most of the committee members on the minority side including the ranking member Isaac Asiamah to rise up and challenge the minister; but the first Deputy Speaker, Ebo Barton Odro, who was presiding at the time, would not give them the chance to further interrogate the Minister.
�It is most unfortunate that we did not get the chance to interrogate the minister and strip him naked on the speculative figure he was talking about even though we were on our feet prompting the Speaker on a point of order, but the Speaker was only looking in the direction of the majority and would not recognize our presence,� Hon Asiamah told Daily Guide Sport.
The Atwima-Mponua legislator said he was concerned that some officials of the ministry and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) might use the 2014 World Cup participation to create, loot and share the nation�s scarce resources, as it happened during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
According to him, Parliament, which had oversight responsibility over all public institutions, should ensure that profligate spending like splashing $125,000 on reception for Ghana�s delegation during the 2010 World Cup, $3.5 million on meals and accommodation for officials and supporters as well as $30,000 on laundry, did not occur again in Brazil.
He said a total amount of $16.9 million was said to have been spent during the 2010 World Cup but just $7 million was spent on the players who actually played in the World Cup.
Another minority member on Youth, Sport and Culture Committee, Kwabena Baah Agyemang said the amount of GH27,000 quoted by the minister elsewhere that the government would be using to sponsor one Black Stars fan to watch Ghana�s matches in Brazil was just too much and something must be done about it to save taxpayers some money.
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