Australia Visa Scandal: Sports Minister equally culpable; publish report - Ras Mubarak

Member of Parliament for Kumbungu Constituency in the Northern Region, Ras Mubarak believes the former Deputy Youth and Sports Minister who is currently the Deputy Minister of Information, Pius Enam-Hadzide is being used as an escape-goat in the Australia Visa scandal.

According to him, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Hon. Isaac Asiamah is equally culpable in the visa racketeering as he oversees the Ministry.

Speaking in interview on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show with host Kwame Nkrumah Tikese, Ras Mubarak wondered if a ghost signed the letters which facilitated the Australia visa issuance, since the report from the government has exonerated Pius Hadzide who was fingered in the visa racketeering.

“If it is not Hon. Pius, then they should tell us who did it? The Embassy will issue visa based on certain recommendations from the Ministry of Youth and Sports; that is how it happens. This is an attempt to protect persons in government who have been affected, and I feel that the President should stamp his authority and say no, no matter what . . . the law should deal with the person in the Visa racketeering,” he stated.

He charged the government of Ghana to publish the report as Ghanaians are interested in knowing what happened exactly in the Visa scandal which he believed has subjected the country to international ridicule.

“Who signed those letters to facilitate the Visa? And the Minister himself cannot absolve himself because the Minister is assisted by the deputies, and per our Constitution, the deputies don’t have schedules; they are supposed to assist the Minister and so who gave either Pius or the Chief Director to sign the letters? I am surprised they are trying to make escape-goat of the deputy; the Minister is equally culpable in the Visa racketeering,” he argued.

He was emphatic that the substantive Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah would have been fired if this visa scandal had happened in any serious country; stressing that the Minority NDC are not satisfied with the news on the investigation carried out as it does not reveal the person who led the scandal.

“They say Pius is not guilty, we say where is the evidence? If they say he is not guilty, publish the report. If they say the Minister or the Chief Director is not culpable, publish the report, so that all of us will read and know who is responsible for the Visa racketeering and if there is any punishment, certain people must be made to face the law. We can’t do this to our ourselves,” he indicated.