GH¢10 million stadium funds missing at National Sports Authority - A-G's report

The Auditor General’s report on the Sustainability of Sports Stadia in Ghana has revealed that Internally Generated Funds (IGF) for the year 2015-2016 for the Accra Sports Stadium and for the year 2012-2013 for the Baba Yara Sports Stadium were not accounted for by the National Sports Authority (NSA).

The audit carried out from August 2017 to December 2018 at the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Authority covered the period between 2012 and 2018.

The report saw a total of Ghc 10,683,044 generated as internal funds from the five stadia in the country (Accra, Kumasi, Essipong, Tamale and Cape Coast) even though there were no revenue targets or strategies in place.

Assistant Auditor General for Performance and Special Audit, Lawrence Ayagiba, in an interview with Ghana’s number one Sports Station Happy 98.9FM disclosed that they were propelled to conduct the audit due to media reports on the deteriorating state of the various stadia across the country.

“The audit was to find out whether the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) and the National Sports Authority (NSA) have carried out their oversight responsibilities and implemented measures to ensure the physical and financial sustainability of sports stadia”.

He mentioned that the NSA was unable to provide any documentation for IGF for the period stated in the report.

“The NSA does not have any document on their internal generated funds for the years which have been stated in the report”, he told Ohene-Bampoe Brenya on Happy Sports on Happy 98.9FM.

He added that the Auditor General has the power to surcharge all those involved in accounting for the internally generated funds.

National Sports Authority boss, Professor Peter Twumasi, in his response on Happy 98.9FM on the missing funds for the years stated in the report said the Auditor’s General will write to those responsible for answers.

The reports also revealed that the management of Accra Sports Stadium could not provide the audit team with any information on rent owed by tenants.

Also, there were no documents or tenancy agreements between NSA and the tenants to indicate the rent to be paid, dates, terms and conditions for occupying the shops to enable them to ascertain rent outstanding.

Peter Twumasi revealed that all tenancy agreements under his administration have been renewed.

“We have renewed and given out contracts to all our tenants at the Accra Sports Stadium. The report is good to identify some of the problems the NSA is facing so we can correct them. But it doesn’t mean we should also write off all the good works of the NSA”, he noted.

The audit also focused on the following areas; vi Performance Audit Report of the Auditor General on the Sustainability of Sports Stadia in Ghana on oversight responsibilities, maintenance of stadia and revenue generation.