Sports minister's aide hits back at Franklin Cudjoe over African Games expenditure

The personal assistant to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Jamaludeen A. Abdullah, has called out the President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, for spreading misinformation regarding the feeding expenditure for the 13th African Games.

In a post on his Facebook page, Cudjoe claimed, “Sports Authorities say they spent $15m feeding 12,000 people for two weeks at the recent Africa games. Sports Journalists say only 5,000 athletes were officially to be fed. So who are these 7,000 additional stomachs? Avatars of the 5,000 athletes and their clones? Ei.”

Mr. Abdullah responded swiftly, correcting what he claims to be the misleading nature of Cudjoe’s statement.

He provided a detailed breakdown of the people who were catered for during the event, which amounted to 12,902, not the alleged 5,000.

According to the data shared by Mr. Abdullah, the individuals fed during the games included:

• Athletes & officials: 7,500

• Medical staff: 200

• Security personnel: 180

• Legon Security: 65

• Transport staff: 150

• LOC: 35

• IT/Protocol personnel: 42

• Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS) representatives: 20

• Antidoping personnel: 60

• Volunteers: 3,000

• International Technical Officials (ITOs) & Technical Officials (TOs): 1,100

• Local/International media: 550

Total: 12,902

Mr. Abdullah further criticized Franklin Cudjoe’s post, accusing him of deliberately twisting the facts to mislead the public.

"It is unfortunate to see a person known for advocating transparency and accountability resorting to such blatant propaganda. Your new role as the unofficial propaganda secretary of the NDC seems to be taking a toll on your objectivity," Mr. Abdullah stated in his response.

He concluded his response by advising Cudjoe to maintain decency in public discourse and avoid engaging in disinformation for political gain.

EK