It has come to light that state agencies contributed huge sums of money to the 2014 World Cup Project Committee to help with their activities.
The Committee was set up to drive Ghana’s participation in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but it had to generate funds for their activities especially to help send supporters to the tournament. It has now become clear that the committee sought funds from several entities including some state-owned agencies.
[contextly_sidebar id=”zjem7dyPGv6HrbMaHKJ9NMVZRg0FNPSD”]The point of interest is that some of the state-run agencies which put their money into the Committee’s kitty have complained of not having funds to deal with their respective operational defects. Take for instance, the Electricity Company of Ghana.
They have always cited funding as their biggest challenge and this has pushed them to increase tariffs in recent years.
However, according to the Dzamefe Commission report, they were able to contribute GHC 50,000 in sponsorship to the World Cup Project Committee.
The amount was paid on the 19th of May, 2014. Are you serious? Yes and this was captured on page 38 of the appendix attached to the report.
The page was part of the audit of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. ECG’s very good friend, the Volta River Authority also gave some money to the project committee but one will admit that their contribution was very meagre.
They only gave GHC 3,500. But they were not the only state-run agency to have “dropped a few notes into the bowl” of the project committee.
Ghana Commercial Bank, (now GCB Bank) on the 13th of March, 2014 donated a eyebrow-raising GHC 300,00 to the committee, the Bank of Ghana (whose accounts housed the money airlifted to Brazil for the players) contributed GHC 50,000 and they did so on the 14th of May, 2014.
The Ghana Free Zones Board parted with GHC 100,000 on the 4th of June, 2014 and GHC 3,900 on the 10th of June, 2014. Now to the big one.
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributed (as citizens do every month) GHC 1,000,000 to the project committee. You saw it right (so even rubbing your eyes will not change it). One. Million. Ghana. Cedis.
The under-fire Agricultural Development Bank also contributed to the committee.
They gave GHC 250,000. Aside from state-run bodies, some private entities including banks also contributed various sums of money to the committee. In total, the Dzamefe Commission stated that GHC 4,542, 735 was given as contributions to the World Cup Project Committee.
–
By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana