Ashanti regional minister receives presidential commission of inquiry.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Dr. Samuel Sarpong says, it will be unfair for any well-meaning Ghanaian to express any sense of skeptism about the composition of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to look into the nation’s participation at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
According to him, the President, H.E John Dramani Mahama, apart from exercising a constitutional mandate as captured in article 278 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, is also worried about the poor performance of the Black Stars.
“The Nation became the laughing stock at the World Cup because of the many things we got wrong, both on and off the pitch”. He said.
“To set the records straight, so we don’t repeat those humiliating traits in subsequent tournaments, its import for us, as a people to investigate, seek findings and make appropriate recommendations towards reviving the fortunes of not only football, but sports in general in Ghana” Dr. Sarpong added.
The Minister expressed these reservations when two of the three members of the Commission called on him in Kumasi on Friday.
The members, Lawyer Moses Foh-Amoaning and Mr. Kofi Anokye Owusu Darko were in Kumasi to engage the media regarding how to report on the Commission’s work.
The interaction was under the theme, “Proper Media Industry Practice and Standard for the coverage and reportage on the proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry into Brazil 2014”.
The Minister, welcome the team and wished them well in the exercise, admonishing them to operate without fear or favor noting that, “see your job as service to Ghana”.
Lawyer Foh-Amoaning was thankful to the Minister for the warm reception accorded him and his fellow commissioner.
He assured that, “we are bent on preserving the sovereignty of Ghana in the face of this exercise and we won’t be intimidated by any power anywhere on this earth”
“Ghana belongs to Ghanaians and we deserve the right to inquire into matters of public interest and not even FIFA can stop us” he affirmed.
Lawyer Foh-Amoaning, opined that, “We are a fact-finding Commission and not a witch-hunting commission, and so we have nothing to fear in this assignment given us by His Excellency the President”
He stressed that the commission will be seeking to also making recommendations on principles and policies that underpins the systems and structures of the administration of not just football but sports in general in Ghana.
“In doing so, it’s appropriate to engage the media who are a core stakeholder in the whole process because in Ghana today, sports is media –driven”. He said.
He emphasized that, since the Commission is a qwezi judicial body with the powers of the High court, it will be contemptuous for anybody including the media to scandalize it.
“We are therefore here to educate the media on libel, slander and contempt in the practice of their profession as they report on the work of the Commission”. He said.
He added that their work concerns all Ghanaians and therefore it needs public ownership of the job of the Commission.
Lawyer Foh-Amoaning assured the Minister that, “no power on this earth can prevent the sovereign people of Ghana from exercising its constitutional mandate and therefore under no circumstance will the Commission be intimidated from doing its work”.
The Commissioners, led by the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association, Listowell Yesu Bukarson also called on the Mayor of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Hon. Kojo Bonsu.