Scandalous Aussie Debt Haunts NSC Acting CEO

By: Wisdom Asafo-Adjei-Freelance Journalist

The nearly fifteen thousand dollars debt caused by the accord of the acting Chief Executive Officer, Wolanyo Agra of the National Sports Council (NSC) is yet to be cleared by Ghana, in spite of attempts by the Deaf Football Australia to retrieve the said amount.

The Deaf Football Australia authorities are demanding the said monies from Ghana, since Mr. Agra sanctioned the Aussie Deaf visa deal on behalf of the government of Ghana on the blind side of Government’s representative, Hon Rashid Pelpuo, Minister for Youth & Sports.

Failure to settle the debt would shatter Ghana’s hope of participating in future international disabled sports competitions, as the Aussie Deaf Football Authorities are furious over the swindle.

Although officials at the NSC are tight-lipped over the irresponsible act, this reporter has noticed glaringly that the debt is haunting the acting CEO who gave the nod for the deal to be executed with hearing persons posing as deaf footballers.

With death threats, the over 61 year old acting CEO, Mr. Agra, has since put fear in the staff of the Council, in an emergency staff meeting, warning them not to comment on the issue.

During that meeting he stressed that, it was NSC staff who blew frequent alarm on his involvement in the scandalous visa case adding that the grave would be their sleeping place if they did not stop dropping hints.

Lenses of this reporter have caught this acting CEO frequently visit his village near Togo, of late, for fears that he could soon be booted out, due to his lack of acumen and technical know-how, thus seeking the help of a friend who is said to have emptied the coffers of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) before the tenure of the current indefatigable GOC president, Mr. Benson Tongo Baba.

This reporter learnt that, with a face of frustration, Mr. Agra is usurping power to ensure that NSC’s chief administrative officer, Mr. Charles Aryeh is uprooted from the Council to the Youth & Sports Ministry, prior to retirement, with the reason that the one-time acting CEO could not advice him to stop the execution of the shameful money-spinning deal.

The deal, which was carried out a short while after seizing office through the back door and politics, has further amazed the foreign nationals as to how an acting CEO could cause such unpardonable scandal, only for the James Dennis Armah to emerge a scapegoat making headlines in news bulletins.

Of the several officers who have headed the NSC in different capacities, Mr. Agra has, out of illusion, come into sight as the worst-ever choice, having plunged Ghana sports in tatters, both local and international levels.

Drolly, the chaos he brought at the Ghana Olympic Committee currently gawks at him, thus extracting his technical and administrative impoverishment, only for the sector Ministry to come to his aid to avoid further national dishonours by taking charge of a lot of day-to-day activities that he ought to manage at NSC.

Mr. Agra has even gone to the extent of presenting a new pickup to an officer who unofficially drove one of the Council’s 4-wheel drive worth over 30,000 Ghana cedis to his hometown on a weekend, and came back with the vehicle condemned but strangely unhurt.

Besides, the acting NSC CEO painfully kicked out a senior officer from his allocated office, transferring him to as far as Wa, and interestingly asked his pal, Tony Baffoe, a former Black Stars defender to occupy that office privately.

The beleaguered Agra is at the moment hiding behind politics to run the Council despite showing evidence of gross incompetence which is attested to by a lot of people, even those close to him, aside the fact that he has glaringly crossed the 60-year retirement barrier in the civil service.

Further findings have revealed literally that he usually boasts to have recommended the appointment of versatile Rashid Pelpuo as the successor to Hon. Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, clarifying why the acting NSC CEO feels on top of the world, regardless of his numerous blunders at the Council.

Mr. Agra is idiosyncratically remembered for his crucial involvement in the missing $46,000 tale that rocked former Minister for Youth & Sports, Mallam Issa,

That albeit, high-flying sources have disclosed potential replacements as Kojo Bonsu of Agoo magazine fame and Professor Francis Dodoo, so as to avoid further government embarrassment and possible sanctions by the international sporting bodies.