Sports journalist contracted to destroy Afriyie Ankrah got Kia Sorento

The sports journalist, who was bribed to destroy Elvis Afriyie Ankrah in the aftermath of the 2014 World Cup, was rewarded with a Kia Sorento SUV for completing the hatchet job, GHANAsoccernet.com investigations have revealed.

The cash-to-destroy-opponents scandal has exposed a gargantuan rot at the heart of the practice of sports journalism in sections of the Ghana media which is now known for throwing false accusations at sports officials without a shred of evidence.

The journalist at the heart of this scandal (name withheld) is also facing a separate legal action for slandering a key figure in sports in Ghana. He has been asked by the court to file his witness statement over the allegation within the next seven days.

The revelation by the ex-sports minister that some sports journalists were heavily bribed by some members of his own political party in a highly orchestrated agenda to destroy him has quickly thrown the matter into the public sphere.

Afriyie-Ankrah revealed that some of the stories hammered by a particular sports programme were calculated to draw the ire of the President of the country John Mahama with claims that he is keen on contesting him for the NDC party’s leadership.

He suffered allegations of corruption, squandering World Cup funds, alleged award of contracts to his wife and mother, maltreatment of sponsored supporters to Brazil, alleged affair with a Ghanaian actress, the Black Stars appearance fees debacle, among others serious claims.

Since then most of these allegations have been proven to be untrue which lends credence to he fact there were a campaign in place to get him out of office in disgrace.

Now it has been revealed that the journalist (name withheld) was rewarded with a Kia Sorento SUV by three people in the ruling NDC party who masterminded the attack of lies on Ankrah.

The vehicle was delivered to the journalist with an unregistered number days after the minister was removed from office.

Insiders claim he could have also received a landed property on the fringes of Accra for the hatchet job on the former minister. More details of this will be published on Ghana's leading football news website www.ghanasoccernet.com.

Ankrah, who was removed from office in the wake of the tournament in Brazil, says he has uncovered the plans which were hatched with the vision of disgracing him even before the tournament.

The suspicions are that the minister's refusal to give a contract to a single company sparked the anger of the three guys in his party which resulted in the calculated media attacks on him.

The former Sports Minister is unwilling to name and shame the hands behind the bribing of journalists to destroy him fearing it would cause a huge earthquake in the ruling NDC party.

Ankrah, a campaign manager for President John Mahama when he won the Presidential elections, speedily fell out of favour with the country's leader with rumours that he was bad mouthed by insiders over claims of presidential ambitions.

He hinted that sports presenters were bribed by his ‘enemies’ within his own political party with the twisted ‘Sika die-Sika die’ mantra to damage his reputation and cause his downfall.

The ‘Sika die-Sika die’ mantra which means ‘stealing money’ was heavily used by a journalist before during and after the World Cup which he believes caused disaffection for him.

The stalwart in the ruling NDC party says some of the journalists used in the highly orchestrated agenda have confessed to the damaging strategy.

The former Minister for Sports has revealed that some media men have confessed to him that they were used to hound him by ‘enemies’.

“I know. It is not everything that the hunter sees in the forest that he can talk about but for now I know, I have evidence of people who came to me that we were given money, we were told to go after you and we did and we’ve come to apologize,” the former sports minister said on GH One TV.

“I said I’ve forgiven you once you’ve come to me to confess, you are forgiven.

“Of course, [they were from] the media. They [enemies] had to use the media.

The former also hinted that aside the sports media, even newspapers who owe allegiance to his party, the NDC, targeted him for a perceived hidden presidential ambition.

He added that he has also been told his work on the GYEEDA investigation might have courted him problems.

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah is currently a Minister of State at the Presidency.