NDC Vomits $1.5m For Stranded Footsoldiers

Posted:Daily Guide |Friday, 18 June 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu & William Yaw Owusu
The 345 stranded soccer fans may have been successfully flown to South Africa to cheer the Black Stars in their encounter with their Australian counterparts tomorrow, but there are still lingering questions about the names and identities of the individuals and groups of persons said to have sponsored the trip.

DAILY GUIDE sources said that instead of the usual El-Wak Stadium where pre-departure formalities were carried out, the supporters, mostly National Democratic Congress (NDC) foot-soldiers, were ferried to the Zenith College area at the back of the Trade Fair at La, where the supporters were screened by NDC officials including the party’s Women’s Organizer, Anita De Souza.

Deputy Minister of Local Government Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, who was the main architect behind the initiative, is not forthcoming with details about those who sponsored it since they do not want their names and identities to be made public.

In an interview with DAILY GUIDE yesterday, Mr. Afriyie Ankrah said they undertook the exercise from a humanitarian point of view since they were touched by the plight of the stranded supporters, some of whom had been staying at the El-Wak stadium for almost a week without food or water.

However, DAILY GUIDE sources said an individual who was at the Zenith College for the screening coughed out a staggering $1.5million to support the airlifting of the supporters.

According to DAILY GUIDE sources, Kobby Woyome, Member of Parliament for South Tongu and his brother, Alfred Woyome of the Office of the President, are said to have contributed to the funding of airlifting the fans to South Africa.

When contacted on his mobile phone yesterday, the MP confirmed to DAILY GUIDE that they were “supporting the government as private individuals” to airlift the stranded fans to South Africa.

“We came in as a private entity. We are using our own money to support the government to get the fans there,” he said.

Asked how much they were spending to airlift the fans, Mr. Woyome, who sounded busy, said “this is something we can talk about later.

We are under serious tension. You can hear from the background. Everybody wants to go to watch Ghana play.”

DAILY GUIDE learnt that his elder brother, Alfred, was mentioning the names of the supporters at the Zenith College, prior to their departure.

Even before the World Cup is over, a pressure group, Progressive Nationalist Forum (PNF), has already expressed concern about the manner in which the government was handling the airlifting of the fans and has called for investigations into the matter.

A statement issued in Accra yesterday and signed by Richard Nyamah, spokesperson of PNF, said “we are calling on the President to set up an investigative committee to look into the shambolic handling of the transportation of the fans to South Africa and the embarrassing treatment they underwent in both Ghana and South Africa.”

The group said government should also “do a full disclosure of the amount the state spent on sending the fans to South Africa.

To this effect, there should be a full publication of the list of the fans, the cost of transportation, feeding and lodging and entertainment.

“We also are requesting a publication of the supposed philanthropists who chose to bear the cost of the last 405 fans and their linkages to the government if any.

We also wish to hear the philanthropists indicate what motivated them to do what they did so we can determine if Ghanaians will be paying back at a later date in a different form.”

According to the PNF, the airlifting of the fans is estimated to cost not less than GH¢6 million to the state to transport, feed, house and entertain them in South Africa.

“An air ticket is between $1000 and 1,200. At $1000 per ticket, we the taxpayers will be paying some $1,405,000 or the cedi equivalent of some GH¢2,000,000. An average hotel bill at this moment in South Africa is $500,” it said.

“Granted that most of the fans will be housed in hostels at some $100 per day, this will amount to some $140,500 per day for all the fans. If the fans are to be in South Africa for the duration of the first round matches, they will be staying for a minimum of fourteen days at our expense.

This will cost us some $196,700 or the equivalent of GH¢3m. If the 1405 fans were even to be fed for only $1m, the total bill for their stay in South Africa will cost this state not less than GH¢6m,” PNF added.

Ras Mubarak, an NDC activist, also lambasted the government for flying “disgruntled” party foot-soldiers to South Africa under the pretext of sending soccer fans there.
In an article posted on the net, Mubarak thinks the purpose is to score political points.

“We should find out whether indeed it was a priority to sponsor over thousand people who are made up of largely party supporters, in a very weak attempt to assuage the base of the NDC, which is not impressed so far about what is happening.

“The critical issue for me as a Ghanaian is to find out whether it is a priority for a government that is complaining about a former administration [of] leaving mountains of debts and actually rolling out austere measures that are squeezing Ghanaians,” he queried.

He asked for the identity of the faces behind the so-called sponsorship. “A time has come for us to ask for full disclosure; who are the so-called sponsors who have associated themselves with this trip?

They cannot tell Ghanaians that these companies do not want to be mentioned.”

He said the gesture by the government was not only an attempt at silencing the members of NDC but to get good press, which unfortunately turned out to be a “bad attempt”.

He added that the “whole intention behind sending people to South Africa is not hinged on good faith”.

Though the government has denounced any involvement in organizing the last flight and accommodation for the stranded fans who were flown on late Wednesday evening via a chartered flight, the Deputy Minister’s failure to give details about the individual sponsors, in a way, seeks to give some sort of credence to the speculations of underhand dealings.

But Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah insists “we got ourselves together and then we got some public spirited people to support and that’s what we did”.

Asked about the names and identities of other individuals who contributed to the cost of the entire trip of the stranded fans, including their going and return ticket, food and accommodation, he said “in Ghana, people support many, many causes, sometimes they want it to be public; sometimes they want it to be quiet.

So, I think that in this case, people feel that they are just doing this in the public interest not for PR or publicity.”

For this reason, he said, “they just want to keep it quiet and I think that it is something we must also respect.”

He would not disclose the number of people who raised the money involved, neither would he tell how much it cost to put everything together, saying “for all you know, me too I contributed maybe some GH¢500 or GH¢1,000.”

“If I hire a bus to cart people from El-Wak to the airport, it’s a contribution, isn’t. If somebody brings 1,000 packs of take-away, it’s a contribution.

If somebody brings water to them, it’s a contribution, do you understand me?” he asked rhetorically, stressing “people contributed in diverse ways but everybody thinks it should be a quiet thing,” he added.

The 345 of the 400 or so football fans who were stranded at the El-Wak Sports stadium since last week were flown to South Africa on late Wednesday.

They were left stranded after government, through the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Nii Nortey Duah, said it had finished airlifting all one thousand fans it budgeted for and for that matter could not make any further provision for the remaining fans.

This led to a misunderstanding between the Deputy Ministers of Youth and Sports, whose Ministry was in-charge of organizing the trip, and the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, who wanted to save the face of government in the heat of the disappointment.

Meanwhile, a Deputy Sports Minister under the Kufuor Administration and Member of Parliament for Aburi-Nsawam constituency, Osei Bonsu Amoah, has cautioned the NDC government of the consequences of sponsoring such a large number of people for the World Cup.

He fears that there is likely to be some difficulties in bringing the people back after the tournament.

Ministers Clash Over Stranded Footsoldiers

Posted: Daily Guide|Thursday, 17 June 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
It appears that there is shadow boxing in government with two deputy ministers slugging it out over the stranded Black Stars’ supporters at the El-Wak Stadium in Accra, as they continue to churn out conflicting reports over the fate of the stranded supporters who are mostly National Democratic Congress (NDC) foot-soldiers.

While Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development said the foot-soldiers could now heave a sigh of relief as the leadership of the NDC mobilized funds to airlift them to South Africa to cheer the Stars, in their next match against Australia on Saturday, the man in charge of ferrying the supporters to South Africa, Nii Nortey Dua, deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, said the exercise was over.

Even though Nii Nortey Dua said there was no way out for the stranded supporters, mostly NDC foot-soldiers, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah stated it was not a hopeless case and that something was being done about their situation.

Nii Nortey Dua told the stranded supporters, who have virtually made El Wak their temporary home, to search for accommodation in Accra to rent, stay in there and pretend they also went to watch the World Cup in South Africa, if going back to their homes would be embarrassing to them.

Speaking to Joy News yesterday, Nii Nortey Dua stated, “Some people are saying that they have said farewell to their family relations and their friends that they are going to South Africa.

So if they go back, they will feel very ashamed that they are not able to go.

“Such people should go and hire proper place of accommodation and stay so that after the tournament, they can go back and give the impression that they were in South Africa.”

Government had earlier promised to send over 2000 people to South Africa for the tournament but later cut down the number to 1000.

Most of the supporters flew to South Africa over the weekend, and government had indicated that it could not send more people to that country due to inadequate funding.
The decision has incurred the wrath of the stranded party foot-soldiers.

As a result, the NDC leadership has decided to mobilize funds swiftly to ferry the supporters to watch Ghana play in her second successive world cup appearance.

The deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and former Deputy General Secretary of the party, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, is a member of the fund raising team which seeing to the lifting of the stranded foot soldiers to South Africa.

Elvis told Citi FM that by the close of yesterday, the foot-soldiers would have landed in South Africa.

“My general secretary, Hon. Ofosu Ampofo, myself and others are seeing how best we can help resolve the problem.

And so we’ve been trying to put our heads together and I can say that thankfully, all things being equal tonight, we will be able to airlift about 340 people, and if there are some left, then we will see how to push them on individual flights tomorrow, Thursday, June 17,” he said.

“We have a list of 370 people but I must say that by end of the day, everything will be quite clear,” he added.

The deputy Minister said that the cost of sending the foot-soldiers was being borne by some philanthropists who he was not ready to name.

“We contacted some individuals who expressed their willingness to pay, once we are able to get an aircraft and put our stuff together.

One of the flight that left for South Africa on Monday June 14, almost all the people on that flight were paid for by some individuals, so people are showing a lot of interest and once they see that supporters are desirous of going and they are stranded, they are ready to support them”.

It was not clear whether the stranded supports were able to go last night.

However, President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Wonder Madilo, has ridiculed Nii Nortey Dua’s statement, stressing that “asking them to rent rooms in Accra and stay is neither here nor there.”

Taking into consideration the fact that some of the stranded fans have travelled all the way from Tamale in the Northern region to Accra, the NUGS President said the deputy Minister’s advice is not only in bad taste but also uncalled for, and should rather look at ways to help solve the problem instead of making such uncomplimentary remarks.

He believes that the entire planning process for the trip was flawed since, according to him, “it seems to be the case that people who are made as representatives on committees do not have the right expertise to deliver on the reason for which they have been appointed.”

Nii Nortey Dua insists neither his Ministry nor the planning committee was aware of any such arrangement to airlift the fans to South Africa, as suggested by his colleague, Mr Afriyie-Ankrah.

“As far as my ministry is concerned, we sent the last batch of the supporters to South Africa on Sunday evening, June 13, and we have never discussed sending any more people,” he told Citi Fm.

Under the current circumstance, Nii Nortey Dua said government cannot bear the expenses of the remaining 400 or so stranded fans, having already airlifted 1,000 fans to South Africa, under the government funded initiative, to support the senior national football team, the Black Stars.

For this reason, he said, any individual or group of persons who have the intention of travelling to South Africa to watch the world cup should do so in their own capacity.

Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah however seemed surprised his colleague deputy Minister of Youth and Sports was unaware of the arrangement they were making to airlift the stranded fans to South Africa since, according to him, are arrangements are being made by private individuals to get the remaining supporters to watch the world cup.

“As far as I know, those who have to know are aware,” Elvis said.

Azeem Slams Pratt

Posted: Daily Guide |Thursday, 17 June 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
THE CREDIBILITY of the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) has been brought to question.

Executive Secretary of Transparency International’s (TI) local chapter, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Vitus Azeem, cannot comprehend why the group, which is often led by Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr. and his cohorts, have suddenly become numb about protesting against the very issues they used to fight against with passion and enthusiasm a couple of years ago.

Speaking at a public forum put together by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) foundation in Accra on Tuesday, under the theme ‘The role of civil society and private institutions in fighting corruption’, Mr. Azeem said “this has reduced in the last two years, for obvious reasons.”

Whilst appreciating the role the CJA used to play in bringing pressure to bear on President Kufuor and his erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to take appropriate action against individuals and group of persons perceived to have engaged in corrupt practices, Mr. Azeem wondered whether they would have the moral courage to do same to the present administration. This, he was not sure of.

When asked in a subsequent interview with DAILY GUIDE as to why he thought the CJA has virtually gone into hibernation, the GII boss said “it’s obvious, former President Rawlings and President Atta Mills used to join them.

They were largely supported by the opposition then and now that opposition is in power, so you don’t expect ex-President Rawlings or President Mills to go and join a demonstration.”

Though Mr. Pratt sought to justify the sudden silence of the usually vociferous CJA, Mr. Azeem’s comments affirm the belief that he (Mr. Pratt) and the CJA are now in bed with the incumbent government hence their inability to criticize them.

Some have also questioned why the CJA failed to organize and lead the demonstration against the recent astronomical increases in utility tariffs as it did during the previous administration.

That notwithstanding, the anti-corruption campaigner said Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have not been satisfactorily vigilant in looking out for individuals who engage in corrupt acts, blowing the whistle on them or taking joint action to bring pressure to bear on government to take action on the culprits.

Also appreciating the effort of the media in carrying out effective investigations and exposing some of these corrupt practices in society, Mr. Azeem indicated “unfortunately, action on many of these allegations, and or revelations has not been satisfactory for various reasons, including lack of commitment on the part of the executive and the judiciary to fighting corruption, sometimes frustrating these journalists.”

Considering the multi-faceted nature of corruption, he believes that no matter how much the private sector and the CSOs do in the fight against it, they cannot succeed without what he described as effective governance.

For that reason, he has stressed the need for the three arms of government, being the executive, legislature and the judiciary, to play their roles effectively and provide Ghanaians with transparent, accountable and participatory governance.

Mr. Azeem noted “We need an executive that will design and implement anti-corruption policies and bring before Parliament bills that will promote transparency and accountability”, emphasizing “we need a Parliament that will enact bold laws without fear of being caught by those laws themselves.”

In the final analysis, Mr. Azeem also spoke about the need for a judiciary that does not allow corruption, politics and personal interest to influence their decisions.