Timeline: The Dzamefe Commission of Enquiry

Introduction

The Dzamefe Commission of Inquiry was constituted by President John Dramani Mahama to look into circumstances surrounding Ghana’s chaotic campaign at last year’s World Cup in Brazil. The committee worked for about 4 months spanning between August 4 and December 14, 2014.

The Commission was chaired by Mr. Justice Senyo Dzamefe, an Appeal Court Judge; his compatriots were Mr. Moses Foh-Amoaning, a legal practitioner and Mr. Kofi Anokye Owusu-Darko, a sports enthusiast.

Terms of reference

The terms of reference were to inquire into matters relating to the preparation of the Black Stars for the World Cup and the issues that resulted in the poor performance and early exit of the team from the tournament.

Other issues they were to look into, include the management of the Black Stars team and issues in their camp during the tourney, the mistreatment of Ghanaian football fans, contractual issues with travel and catering contractors were all to be scrutinized.

The commission was also to advise government on how to avoid such fiascos and ridicule as Ghana suffered during the tournament in future tourneys.

Sittings

In all, the commission spoke to 85 witnesses ranging from the officials of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the World cup organizing committee, officials of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) were also present as were travel and catering contractors.

The committee also invited members of the Black Stars management committee, some members of the playing body were invited as well as leaders of supporters unions and celebrity ambassadors who were contracted to raise funds from corporate Ghana for organization of the fans.

Sittings were held at the Media Center of the Accra Sports Stadium.

August 21: Minister weeps at Commission

One of the key persons who appeared before the commission was the then Minister of Youth and Sports, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah; who wept in the course of his testimony before the Justice Dzamefe Commission.

His tears were occasioned by a question from the commission chairman about how he felt as Minister when the Black Stars decided to boycott their training sessions in protest of unpaid monies. In his words; “I was devastated when I heard that the players failed to train.”

September 8: Sub-Committee Chairman Weeps

It wasn’t before long that another official wept during the hearing, Kojo Adu Asare; a presidential staffer and former Member of Parliament for Adentan, at the tail end of his appearance, shed some tears.

Mr. Asare was invited by the Commission in his capacity as the chairman of the Protocol and Supporters Welfare Sub-committee, and he gave over two-hour testimony for his role in the activities of his sub-committee.

September 10: Caterers Woes

Two days later after Adu Asare’s testimony, one of the catering contractors for the World Cup trip, Mercy Amina Sackey of Kenkey Boutique, expressed the frustrations herself and two others caterers (Monees and Ambar Catering) suffered in Brazil.

According to her, they were not given money to buy foodstuffs to cater for about 540 supporters sent to Brazil. As per the agreement, she was to provide two square meals at a cost of $35 per head. But along the line they had to provide three meals at same cost because of agitations by the fans.

September 15: About $20k for directions

One of the biggest surprises of the hearings was how an amount of $19,800 was paid to an agent to give directions to a supermarket where foodstuff was bought to cook for supporters. This revelation by Lawrence Acheampong, a facilitator with the organizing committee buttressed an earlier point by caterers that they were not in charge of purchases for their work.

September 30: FA members shared $557,500 as appearance

Mr. Emmanuel Gyimah, General Secretary of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), disclosed to the Commission that he collected $557,500 as appearance fees on behalf of seven Black Stars Management Committee members in Brazil.

An amount released to him by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS), Mr Prosper Apasu, on the basis of an Authority Note signed by FA President Kwesi Nyantakyi on June 25, 2014.

October 1: FA President’s ‘co-efficient of seven’ theory

The appearance of the president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi, would best be remembered for how he applied a coefficient formula to explain how a $577,500 appearance fee for management was arrived at and subsequently split among them during the World Cup campaign.

According to the GFA boss, his Authority Note as alluded to by the General Secretary mentioned seven to represent management, that the number was just a coefficient used by the FA and did not necessarily represent the composition of the Black Stars Management Committee.

November 6: GFA asked to pay $7.1m FIFA money to the Govt.

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry set on this day, directed the GFA to pay the full World Cup participation fee received from FIFA, a total of $7.1 million into the accounts of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS).

The appearance of Travel and Tour contractors was also very revealing as was the appearance of management committee members of other junior national teams. Leadership of other sports associations also appeared before the commission.

The captain of the Black Stars, Asamoah Gyan; appeared before the commission all be it briefly. Kwesi Appiah, coach of the team during the campaign also appeared before the commission as did former black stars players like Stephen Appiah and C. K. Akonor.

March 30, 2015: Presentation of Report

On the 30th of March 2015, the commission presented its report to the President who passed it on to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General for further advice.

June 05, 2015: White Paper Issued

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice released the government’s white paper on the Dzamefe Commission report. The 23 paged report is broken into three parts, recommendations that are accepted, those that were not accepted and others that were modified.