The $3.6m All African Games Saga: See GBC’s request for approval of contracts and invoices

More details are emerging on the amount of money the government, through the Ministry of Youth and Sports, paid the state broadcaster, GBC, for the coverage of the 13th All African Games, which was held in Ghana in March 2023.

Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, during his appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), claimed that his ministry paid more than $3 million to GBC for the coverage of the games. GBC, in a statement, refuted the assertion of the minister, stating that it received only $105,000 for the coverage.

The ministry issued a statement insisting that it paid GBC $3.6 million and gave a breakdown as follows:

"From the total amount, $2.5 million was paid directly to GBC in two tranches: $1 million and $1.5 million on March 13, 2024, and May 22, 2024, respectively. Another amount of $1 million was paid to third parties upon the instructions of GBC, in accordance with the contract."

Now, a GBC document sighted by GhanaWeb, which was signed by the Director-General of the state broadcaster, Prof. Amin Alhassan, shows payments to be made to six different companies, including PSG, Quality Media Production S.L., The Production Room (TPR), Silicon Productions, the GBC 24-hour African Games Channel (Support), and Positive Communication.

The document, which is dated February 28, 2024, was a request from GBC to the Ministry of Sports for the approval of contracts and invoices to the entities mentioned above.

It showed that PSG was to be paid 2,056,534 euros.

$1 million was paid to Quality Media Production S.L.

The Production Room (TPR) was to be paid 57,000 euros.

Silicon Productions was also to receive $165,000.

The GBC 24-hour African Games Channel (Support) was paid $105,000.

And $20,000 was allocated for positive communication.

The broadcaster stated in the document that the ministry was to “provide funds to pay for these invoices.”

View the document below:



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