The Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS) has stated that it has begun investigations into media reports indicating that certain Ghanaian citizens have put in asylum requests to the Brazilian government.
A few days ago, stories of Ghanaians seeking asylum in Brazil after the World Cup made the international news headlines. The stories revealed that the fans had stated reasons such as religious conflicts as basis for their demands to the Brazilian government.
As a result, the Government of Ghana was called on to investigate the matter and the MOYS has responded to these calls.
In a press release sent out on Tuesday 15th July and signed by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mahama Ayariga, the MOYS said it had called for documents from the various travel and tour agencies contracted to carry fans to Brazil to support the national team and according to those documents, 612 fans were flown to Brazil on the MOYS’ account.
In addition to this number, there were some individuals and other passengers from other organisations who were also on the flights to Brazil.
The press release also stated that 807 passengers were sent to Brazil but only 704 came back to the country after the Black Stars were eliminated from the tournament. The difference of 103 people are yet to be known.
Also, 195 passengers who went to Brazil either privately or on the ticket of their corporate entities joined the flight back to Ghana.
However, the MOYS revealed that it was yet to find out the number of its sponsored fans who did return to Ghana on the flight. It also stated that it was working with the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ghana to find out the identities of those who applied for asylum in Brazil.
Below is a picture of the press statement:
By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana