Mr Samson Deen, President of the National Paralympic Committee (NPC), has welcomed a thorough investigation into circumstances under which an 11-member paralympic team travelled to Norway to participate in a sporting event but absconded.
“As I have mentioned earlier in all my media interviews and press releases, I have no idea about this whole dubious programme or my core staff in the secretariat,” Mr Deen told the Times Sports yesterday.
The ill-fated Norway trip was exposed by a letter from the Ministry of National Security, alerting the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and Youth and Sports about the 11-member team that travelled, ostensibly to participate in the Fjordkraft Bergen City Marathon.
According to the letter, the team absconded and never registered for the marathon.
Sadly, the coach of the team, George Gyamfi Gyasi, collapsed and died while another member of the team, Nana Antwi, was arrested near the Oslo-Sweden border.
These has led to calls for the invitation and questioning of a number of key officials including the NPC president, Deen, who noted that his signature on documents that aided visa acquisition was forged.
According to him, his attention was drawn to the letter of the National Security letter by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS).
“Immediately, I started engaging my staff and core team for verification. Still, I needed to learn about the event and the issuance of the support letter to the Norwegian embassy, which, unfortunately, happened to be a signed letter on a defunct Ghana Amputee Football Association letter, an invitation from the event organiser and a forged NPC letterhead with my signature and official stamp.”
He explained that a letter signed by Mr Theodore Mawuli Viwotor, a former Secretary General of the Ghana Amputee Football Association, was part of the supporting documents.
“The team I instituted contacted him, and he admitted knowledge of the act, with Ernest Yaw Ayisi of Ernestay Disability Sports Foundation as the principal architect behind the activity.”
Mr Deen supported calls for the invitation of key officials involved in the scandal to save the interest and image of sports in Ghana.
“The matter is already in the hands of national security, and we have also lodged an official complaint by sending a letter to the Ghana Police Service to apprehend the two individuals and assist in the investigation to uncover the truth. We are taking every necessary step to address this issue,” he said.
In a related development, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has also issued a statement, noting that it was actively working with the relevant authorities to investigate the matter to ascertain the issues surrounding it.
It said necessary sanctions would be brought to bear on all parties found culpable in the matter.
