A member of the Local Organising Committee for Ghana’s 2014 World Cup Campaign, Hon. Kojo Adu-Asare, has confirmed that fans will no longer be sent to Brazil to cheer the Black Stars in the tournament.
His statement comes on the back of complaints of some fans who had been scheduled to go to Brazil but had not left the country as of Monday 16th June.
The fans gathered at the Accra Sports Stadium to receive their accreditation but according to Hon. Adu-Asare, these fans would have to stay in Ghana and follow the tournament from home.
In addition, he revealed that the quota that could be supported by available funds had been exceeded and further additions would cause a huge strain on resources.
“I am confirming that we have cancelled the trip to Brazil. One will recall that about 500 people were set aside to be airlifted but currently, as we speak, we have sent about 600 people and that has given us some statistical challenges.
Any attempt to send more people there will aggravate the situation,” said former Member of Parliament for the Adenta Consistuency. on EyeWitness News on Tuesday.
Hon. Adu-Asare revealed that those who were in Brazil included the sponsors and their representatives and those who were given tasks of organising the camps and managing the fans but he also gave an explanation of the situation surrounding the complaints of the fans who are still in the country.
“Those fans left here belong to the various registered supporter groups and have already acquired visas for Brazil after completing their processes at the Brazilian Embassy.
They want the Government to give them sponsorship for the trip but we have made sure that they received allocations of the slots. They are remnants of the groups we have dealt with but they do not have tickets and they think they can try to find their way to Brazil.”
The LOC member went ahead to respond to stories making the rounds that the fans who were in Brazil were living in poor conditions and he said the unavailability of funds could not help the Government pay for standard accommodation for the fans. Thus, what was available had to be acquired for the fans.
“When we started planning for the trip in January this year, we were shown a number of facilities that we could take but we did not have the money to pay for them and secure them.
When we finally received the money to pay for these places, they were all taken and we could not a few to rent.
However, we had taken monies from people and they had to be housed so we settled for what was available because we did not get what we wished for. Of course, things could have been better but that was the best we could do at the time.
If people decide to focus on just that and paint a bad picture, then I am afraid that is not the situation. There have been positives but it seems some of the issues are exaggerated.”
Both fans in Ghana and Brazil will hope for better issues on the pitch though the Black Stars face a tough test against Germany on Saturday in the second Group G match.
By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana