Ghana refutes Abuja Games theft allegation

Accra, Oct 29 - GNA - Ghana has denied media reports in Nigeria which accused members of her contingent to the Eighth All Africa Games in Abuja of stealing television sets and ceiling fans from their rooms before returning home, insisting the publication was a campaign of calumny.

A joint statement issued by Mr Rashid Bawa, Minister of State responsible for Education Youth and Sports and Mr Sam Afrifa-Kyei Minister at the Ghana High Commission in Nigeria described the story as "a clear example of un-professionalism and shoddy piece of journalism" and demanded a retraction and an apology.

They condemned the author of the story for his inability to cross check his facts before going to press and contended that "Ghanaians are a people with a high sense of morality, integrity, honesty and hard work," which would not be eroded by the smear campaign of the paper. Outlining the facts of the case, the statement said the Ghanaian contingent and the Chef de Mission were allowed to leave the Games Village after a thorough inspection of the rooms by competent agents of the organisers, as is customary of every major international competition.

It said Dr Emmanuel Owusu Ansah who was the Chef de Mission had informed the organisers, COJA about the Ghanaian contingent departing the Village at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, Oct 19 and one Maxwell, who was the supervisor of Zone Two led a group to inspect the rooms accordingly. The statement said the supervisor discovered that a key was missing and he demanded and received six thousand naira, being the cost and issued a receipt to cover it after the Chef de Mission had insisted on one.

A copy of the receipt, which was made available to the GNA Sports, revealed that the receipt was signed by one Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed and issued at 8:25 a.m. on Sunday, October 19.

Another alibi for the Ghanaian contingent was that loading and off loading of the luggage of the entire team was done in the full glare of the COJA officials and the contingent waited at the Abuja International Airport from 09:00 a.m. till 2:30 p.m. when the IRS chartered planes took off and if anything had been discovered missing, COJA officials had enough time to raise an alarm.

The statement concluded that "the accusation that the Ghanaian Sportsmen stole all the TVs and ceiling fans at their flats are baseless, malicious and pretentious and we demand retraction of the said news item and an apology to the entire Ghanaian contingent." Commenting on the allegation, Dr Emmanuel Owusu Ansah said he conducted the COJA inspection team round and they found everything in place and he could therefore not understand the origin of the story. He said the luggage of the contingent was carried to the Sports Hall from the airport and there was no sign of any TV set in the consignment.

Dr Owusu Ansah asked members of the contingent to ignore the false allegation and move about with their chests out because the allegation has no basis whatsoever.

A Lagos daily, "This Day" reported in its Monday October 27 edition that the Ghanaian contingent to the Abuja Games removed all ceiling fans and television sets from their flats at the Games Village before departing to Accra.