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CLICK HERE FOR ARCHIVE OF\u00a0DAILY SUMMARIES<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n DAY ONE<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0|\u00a0DAY TWO<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0DAY THREE<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0| \u00a0DAY FOUR<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0DAY FIVE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n __<\/p>\n The effort to maximize Ghana\u2019s participation at the 2014 Fifa World Cup yielded only 26,373 cedis.<\/p>\n This deduction came from the testimony provided by the eagerly anticipated appearance of former Youth and Sports minister Elvis Afriyie Ankrah on Wednesday at the Dzamefe Commission.<\/p>\n The former minister spoke to several issues as he was interrogated by the Presidential Commission set up to look into the happenings of the World Cup.<\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s sitting was day 6 and covered\u00a0only<\/em>\u00a0the preparatory stage of the Brazil 2014 process, therefore everything discussed was centred on what happened before the various delegations emplaned to Brazil.<\/p>\n There were several highlights, including some pricey stuff.<\/p>\n But the quote of the day came in the last ten minutes of the hearings when the former minister was being quizzed about details of accounts.<\/p>\n “My lord, some of your questions are like quadratic equations so it is difficult to answer them yes or no.”<\/p>\n That drew laughter all round, but there were a lot of serious highlights.<\/p>\n Waakye matters<\/strong><\/p>\n Elvis Afriyie Ankrah revealed that there was no formal contract between the ministry and the caterers they employed for the tournament in Brazil.<\/p>\n He explained the three selected caterers were the popular Accra-based joints called Kenkey Boutique, Amber and Muni’s Waakye. These three were given letters to formalize the arrangement between the two parties, a situation which did not sit well with the commission.<\/p>\n Send off party<\/strong><\/p>\n A farewell ball was hosted by the state for the Black Stars before their departure for pre-tournament games with the Netherlands and the USA in May.<\/p>\n This four hour event cost the taxpayer GHS 188,665.<\/p>\n Afriyie Ankrah explained that the \u00a0event \u2013 which had President John Mahama, prominent ex-footballers and high ranking football people in attendance \u2013 was used as a fund-raising initiative.<\/p>\n \u201cWe used that platform as an opportunity to auction materials that the president signed with his green pen too,\u201d the sports minister noted of the event held on May 22.<\/p>\n 8,700 visas were issued to Ghanaians for\u00a0#WC2014<\/a>. Sadly, NONE of Ghana’s former natl team players got visas by sports ministry.<\/p>\n \u2014 Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith)\u00a0August 20, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The bank account<\/strong><\/p>\n Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah confirmed what has been public knowledge that the Ministry of Youth and Sports had a bank account at the Zenith Bank that was used for official World Cup transactions.<\/p>\n Operating under the name\u00a0MOYS \u2013 Brazil Fifa World Cup 2014<\/em>, the account had four signatories from the sports ministry.<\/p>\n \u201cMy Lord, I would like to point out that I was not one of the signatories to this account,\u201d Afriyie-Ankrah clarified.<\/p>\n How much was in the account?<\/strong><\/p>\n Sponsors and well-wishers were publicly courted by the ministry to help the country in its quest to have a successful World Cup on all fronts. The amount realized, according to the minister, was 4,509,635 cedis ($1.16 million at current rates).<\/p>\n How much was spent?<\/strong><\/p>\n The commission heard that Ghana spent 4,483,282.89 cedis ($1.21 million), which drew a low whistle from the chairman of the commission. That took the profit the government Ghana made to just 26,373 ($6,800).<\/p>\n How many sponsors contributed to the effort?<\/strong><\/p>\n Justice Dzamefe challenged the minister on this point, after Afriyie-Ankrah had said only 23 sponsors had contributed to the effort.<\/p>\n Further probing revealed that the number was 41, with the commission asking him to provide further and better particulars later.<\/p>\n But they stopped short of asking him to provide the names in public, due to the possibility of offending some of the sponsors.<\/p>\n Four of the sponsors preferred to remain anonymous. But one key question was: how many supporters did the taxpayer pay to airlift to Brazil?<\/p>\n INFOGRAPH: Breakdown of $1.16 million Ghana’s Planning Committee for Brazil 2014 spent.\u00a0#citisports<\/a>\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/PkGVhY6KIl<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith)\u00a0August 20, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n The Ghana support<\/strong><\/p>\n This was one of the most intriguing parts of the day, as it was revealed that 612 fans were officially airlifted on the ticket of the government.<\/p>\n It emerged at the sitting that the sports ministry was initially not sure if they could pay for the penciled number.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lot of pressure for us to send them, and my seniors will tell you that support, motivation and inspiration plays a big role in football so we felt we must take a core group of supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s official. So what was the unofficial number?\u201d came the response from Moses Foh-Amoaning, a member of the commission.<\/p>\n Elvis responded: \u201c696. At the camp when we took the official roll we realized that some people had managed to get into the camp that the committee did not send.\u201d<\/p>\n Afriyie-Ankrah, having noted already that the camp capacity was 1000 people, pointed out that those who managed to sneak in were Ghanaians as well.<\/p>\n He admitted that the excess numbers were fed and housed by the ministry, saying that a list of all 696 was available.<\/p>\n \u201cYou did well [by hosting and housing them because] they were Ghanaians, but systems must work. You can\u2019t tell the whole of Ghana that you are taking 612 and take care of that number.\u201d<\/p>\n Also of interest was the fact that the former minister revealed an estimated 3000 supporters were airlifted to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, a fact which Foh-Amoaning was skeptical about.<\/p>\n Foh-Amoaning: \u201cAre you sure about this? Can you provide proof, files and documentation? Can we have it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, my lord.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Ghana sports minister speaking at\u00a0#Brazil2014inquiry<\/a>. Not allowed to use ppt as he wanted but speaking well.\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/NuZSSg7V8E<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith)\u00a0August 20, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0Bonuses again<\/strong><\/p>\n The former minister cleared the air on the thorny issue of the appearance fees wanted by the Black Stars players.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had asked for $120,000 [and later the Ministry and the FA] proposed that $100,000 [to be given to them],\u201d Afriyie-Ankrah said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FA brings proposals. We look at the proposals and then I have to take it to cabinet. So it when it got to cabinet said we can do $82,500, which is 10 percent [more than the amounts given] in 2010.\u201d<\/p>\n The commission promised to go deeper into this issue on Thursday.<\/p>\n Other interesting costs<\/strong><\/p>\n Out of the over four million cedis expended, GHS 1,953,96 was spent on accommodation and feeding in Brazil.<\/p>\n Also revealed was that GHS 16,700 was spent on media relations (which he clarified as not being payment to journalists) and GHS 519,035 on match tickets covering 612 fans.<\/p>\n The commission heard that a mobile application and website together cost GHS 22,857.<\/p>\n Citi Sports has found the website\u00a0(click here)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and the android mobile application, which received just over 100 downloads\u00a0(click here)<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Afriyie-Ankrah appears again on Thursday.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n NEED SUMMARIES OF THE HEARINGS? CLICK HERE<\/strong><\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n DAY ONE<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0|\u00a0DAY TWO<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0DAY THREE<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0| \u00a0DAY FOUR<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0DAY FIVE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n