Minister, NSA fight over Africa Games fee

A blame game as to who is responsible for the payment of Ghana’s Affiliation Fee for the forthcoming All African Games (AAG) has begun.

The non-payment of the said amount ($35,000), which resulted in barring team Ghana from the competition’s Games Village when Mozambique last hosted the 10th edition in 2011, is still lurking.

Representatives of the country’s sports governing bodies – Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Authority (NSA) - have come out with divergent responses regarding who actually should foot the bill.

Ironically, the main characters – the athletes - are preparing feverishly ahead of the Games scheduled for September 4-19 this year in Congo DR, with the deadline for payment approaching.

Public Relations Officer of NSA Madam Frederica Mensah-Davies explained in an interview that her outfit has forwarded the necessary documentation to the Sports Ministry.

She mentioned that the Ministry, in return directed that the NSA raises funds internally to foot the bill. “…The deadline is not too far from now, but we will pay before the time.

We have written to the Ministry and it has directed that we pay from the IGF. We will continue to push to pay ahead of time,” the NSA spokesperson however said.