Face behind Visa Scandal Unveiled

......causes financial loss to state

After a long and winding sleuth investigation by this writer, it has revealed that the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the National Sports Council (NSC), Mr. Wolanyo K. Agra is the master brain behind the visa scandal that hit the Ghana sports some months earlier.

Mr. Agra who is most remembered for his involvement in the $45,000 scandal that rocked former Youth and Sports Minister, Mallam Issah, disguised himself as the substantive NSC CEO, took advantage of his close relation which President John Evans Atta Mills and applied for visas on behalf of government for the hearing people who pretended to be deaf, only to enrich himself in his short period at the Council.

Mr Agra okayed the visa deal, facilitated by James Armah, a sports development officer at NSC, since it was lucrative to ease himself as an honorary acting CEO.

After enriching themselves, Mr. Agra’s conduct ensured that Ghana owed the Australian Deaf Football Association a huge amount of $14, 789.00.

The honorary Acting CEO it would be recalled has plunged the whole country’s sports administration into chaos after vehemently and ignorantly clearing all chairmen and members of the various associations under NSC’s umbrella only to replace them with faithfulls of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Youth & Sports Minister, Hon. Rashid Pelpuo against the scandalous backdrop maintained at the Ministry’s turn of the Meet-The-Press series of the Information Ministry that he has dissolved the Disabled Sports Association, but that has fallen on the deaf ears of the Acting NSC CEO who is encouraging the association’s executive to continue to operate.

It took the level-headedness of the minister to calm down tension with firm and wise decisions owing to his rich acumen in the industry, insisting that the various associations go for Congresses to elect their executives. However, Mr. Agra has refused to adhere to the Minister’s directive and has taken refuge in President Mills owing to their friendship and he is encouraging the new executives he imposed on the various associations to operate, after embarrassing the President and Ghanaians as a whole.

This writer gathered that Mr. Agra who has shown signs of technical and administrative bankruptcy bringing on board a veteran friend as a Personal Aide to guide him at the Council’s expense.

The Ghanaian Times in its Friday, October 30, 2009 edition, it reported the arrest of the national deaf coach, Winfred Chartey Annan who allegedly connived with Mr. Armah to send the able-bodied persons to participate in the international soccer match between the Ghanaians and their Australian counterparts.

The two allegedly collected GH 4,000 from each from 12 hearing persons who feigned deafness for the acquisition of Australia visas.

Interestingly, the noted hearing persons who pretended to be deaf participated in the match in Australia but disappeared surreptitiously.