The President of the Ghana Football Association, Kurt Okraku, has been reported to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) by three sports journalists demanding answers over the whereabouts of US$2.8m disbursed to the GFA from Ghana’s participation in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Listowel Daniel Mensah, Evans Sarpong and one Albert, all of Angel Sports, lodged a ten-point petition with EOCO’s Executive Director, Raymond Archer, on Wednesday, calling for investigations into Okraku and the GFA over the funds.
The journalists argue that Ghana received US2.8m to the FA. Since that transfer in 2022, the journalists say, the money has not been accounted for.
“At Qatar 2022, we got US9.5m participation money belongs to the government. After this had been forwarded to government, government forwarded US$2.8m to the FA. But since 2022 when the money was forwarded, we do not know its whereabouts and so we want answers.”
The petition draws attention to a sod-cutting ceremony held on 26 August 2024 at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region, where Okraku – shovel in hand – announced plans for a 40-bed hotel facility with gym and other amenities as a legacy project. “Having engaged all key stakeholders, the FA do have some money to invest on this soil as part of our legacy project,” Okraku is captured saying in footage of the event.
Two years on, the journalists claim, not a single block has been laid at the site. The FA has remained silent on the matter.
The fourth point of the petition asks EOCO to establish “whether the funds remain intact, were transferred to another account, invested or otherwise utilised for purposes other than those for which they were allocated.” The fifth point seeks to determine “whether any portions of the fund has been misapplied, diverted, withdrawn, invested for personal benefits, or used for the benefits of individuals or entities connected to officials of the GFA or other persons.”
Mensah says the journalists have given EOCO two weeks to open investigations, failing which they will hold a press conference to press home their demand. “If after the press conference we don’t see any progress, we will organise and hold a demonstration,” he added.
The journalists report that they have received a number of calls conveying veiled threats, couched as warnings to be careful since the people they are taking on are “very powerful.”
Neither Okraku nor the GFA has publicly responded to the petition. EOCO has yet to indicate whether it will take up the case