Ministry lows supporters cash ....

.... on ambassadors and musicians for world cup.

The Sports Ministry is considering a proposal to send 100 supporters, five musical artistes and 14 ambassadors to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil at a combined cost of $1.145m, investigations have revealed.

In a cited confidential document, the 100 supporters being sent to Brazil is at a per head cost of $6000 which include an economy return air ticket, accommodation and feeding for the first 15 days.

This was contained in a three-way proposed scenarios being considered by the Sports Ministry.

The Ministry had initially targeted to take at least 500 fans to Brazil to support the Black Stars in their third successive World Cup campaign. These 500 fans were to be shared amongst three shortlisted travel and tour agencies.

But the Ministry’s inability to raise the required funds for this project meant the numbers had to be significantly chopped down to a 100.

There is however a provision to send five musical artistes plus a carpet band of seven members at a per head cost of $29,000 to Brazil in the second scenario. Their package include business return air tickets, accommodation feeding and honorarium.

These artistes have been earmarked to be paid $2000 each for nine days in Brazil for ‘services’.

A $60,000 amount has been budgeted to take care of the carpet band of seven members with a package including airfare, accommodation and feeding. The artistes being considered include; Shatta Wale, Becca, Samini, Gyedu-Blay Ambulley and Castro.

The third scenario sees the airlifting of 14 unnamed ambassadors to Brazil at a total cost of $340,000, with a staggering $60, 000 not accounted for. $20,000 has been budgeted to be spent on each one of the 14 ambassadors – bringing the total figure to $280, 000 even though $340,000 was budgeted for in this scenario.

In a related development, a nine-member committee have been designated with specific roles to coordinate planned activities for the 2014 World Cup with no member of the Sports Ministry’s staff included.

The committees are in two folds; once that will be operating in Ghana and the other designated to operate in Brazil.

Both categories however have almost the same membership – making it a bit unclear how these committee members will function.

The committees designated include; Council of Advisors, Secretariat, Match Tickets, Accommodation, Events (Brazil in Ghana and Ghana in Brazil), Media, Transportation, Hotels, Touring, Shopping, Stadium, Airport and Activation Centres, Food and Welfare (Illness, conflict etc), Visa and Security. Meanwhile Sports Minister Elvis Afriyie Ankrah is in Brazil seeking for accommodation for the delegation from Ghana – a job reserved for travel and tour agencies.