The Executive Assistant to the Sports Minister is demanding an apology from the Director General of the Ghana Broadcast Corporation (GBC), Prof Amin Alhassan, for implying that the public was misled regarding the amounts paid for the coverage of the All African Games.
The Director-General of GBC, Prof Amin Alhassan, has clarified that the state media received $105,000, and not $3 million as stated by Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
This explanation cast doubts on the Minister’s claim with many demanding accountability.
But in a subsequent statement, the Sports Ministry clarified that after signing the $3.6 million contract with GBC to produce and broadcast the games, GBC recruited 3rd parties due to a lack of capacity to produce the games.
The Ministry said after the contract was agreed, they paid $2.5 million to GBC in two tranches of $1.5 million and $1 million on the 13th of March and May 22, 2024.
The statement further noted that on the instruction of GBC, the Sports Ministry also paid $1 million directly to the 3rd parties, in accordance with the contract, bringing the total amount paid to GBC and the 3rd parties to $3.5 million, leaving a $100,000 gap that has not been accounted for.
Speaking to JoyNews on Wednesday, August 21, the Minister’s Executive Assistant Jamaludeen Abdullah said, “GBC has not denied the fact that they have not received payment from us with regard to the contract they signed with us. What they are saying is that the contract we signed with and the quantum or the sum of the contract, they engaged a third party, and the third party was entitled to a portion of the money which they have equally executed and made payment for that.
“Nonetheless, their part of the entire contract that they executed is $105,000. This clearly indicates that the Ministry has executed or fulfilled its part of the bargain.
“On this note, I believe that the Director General, in his interview where he created the impression that the minister misinformed the public, should apologise.”
Mr Jamaludeen Abdullah said that intercepted letters from GBC, signed by the Director-General, show that GBC requested payment from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which was subsequently honoured.
“With the evidence available and the evidence in the public domain, I believe we should be asking the Director General questions. Did he indeed receive it or not? He should come and tell us if he did not receive it. Then, whatever that must be brought to expose the person misleading the public will be placed out there.”
Source: Myjoyonline.com
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