Sports Minister addresses 'fake' Paralympic team Norway visa scandal

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has clarified that his institute was not involved in securing visas for the group that posed as Ghana's Paralympics team for a supposed marathon event in Oslo, Norway.

He explained that the regular practice involves the association alerting the Sports Ministry through the National Sports Authority about an upcoming event, which was not the case regarding the 'Paralympic team.'

He emphasised that his sector was not informed about the marathon event and that the team that embarked on the trip did not go in the name of Ghana.

"In this Norway case, there was no request for either the National Sports Authority or the Youth and Sports. We were not aware of any event, and the team that went did not represent Ghana as it has been reported," he said in a press briefing on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.

The minister highlighted the visa application procedure for athletes, indicating that the Sports sector seeks visas for athletes by liaising with Foreign Affairs and that the sector does not send letters to embassies on their own.

"Normally, we don't issue letters to the embassies; we write to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for them to work on our behalf. For the record, this concocted Paralympic team did not represent our country."

The scandal came to light following a statement released by the National Security revealing that an 11-member Paralympic team absconded after arriving in Norway.

The letter mentioned that one of the team members was arrested by Norwegian security officials while on his way to Sweden from Norway, whereas another met his untimely death after collapsing, leaving nine members on the run.

EE/NOQ