Source: Onuaonline.com
A member of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Samuel Nartey George, has noted that there is more to the controversy arising out of the amount paid by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) for the coverage of the African Games.
Following the coverage of the 2023 African Games, the Sports Ministry says it paid over US$3 million to GBC for the coverage of the Games, a revelation made by the sector Minister, Mustapha Ussif, when he appeared before the PAC.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of GBC, Professor Amin Alhassan, has stated that the Corporation only received US$105,000.00 with the remaining amounts going to third parties.
The Ministry, in a counter-statement indicated that, the third parties in the contract are entities employed by GBC to provide certain services the two parties knew the State media could not provide.
According to the Ministry, the GBC made a request to the Ministry to make payments to the parties who aided the State broadcaster to cover the event.
Reacting to the issue, Sam George, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, indicated that there is more to the story the public is supposed to know.
Speaking on TV3’s News Central Wednesday, August 21, 2024, he questioned why the GBC Director-General stated only three third parties in the contract instead of five.
“And if all of this money came through GBC and were transmitted, and so much transmitted to these companies, why did Professor Alhassan in his letter to Parliament and to myself state that the Minister’s comment on $3 million in excess of $3 million came as a surprise to him?
“How is it a surprise to him when he requested for those payments to be made? I mean, somebody is not being honest with the public here. And I think that the public must be giving the full truth and facts of the matter,” he stated.
Source: www.onuaonline.com
