Why must it always be the Sports Ministry?

For many Ghanaians, it is not surprising at all that the ministry of youth and sports has been hit by yet another scandal. The reason is simple: the sports ministry for some years now has gained notoriety for scandals.

These scandals that have plagued the ministry date back to the presidency of former President John Agyekum Kufuor. And on and on we have continued to see the ministry embroiled in one scandal or the other till this latest one in the Akufo-Addo administration.

This time it is about a visa racketeering scandal involving some so-called sixty ‘journalists’ who were given visas to travel to Gold Coast, Australia, to cover this year’s Commonwealth Olympic Games. But it emerged that these sixty Ghanaians were indeed not journalists which development compelled the Australia to deport them back home.

Indeed the matter has since cast Ghana in a negative light, especially in the eyes of the international community. And definitely it will have an impact on genuine Ghanaian journalists who will be going to the various foreign embassies to apply for visas for very good reasons.

Today believes that one very important question that is etched in the minds of many Ghanaians is: what is there at the sports ministry that always tends to attract such scandals? Is it a case that our sports ministry is so juicy that people go there with the mindset to milk the state dry?

Without pre-empting the outcome of the ongoing investigations, Today must applaud President’s Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s efforts at unraveling the truth of the matter.

We at Today believe the President’s suspension of the deputy Minister of Sports, Pius Enam Hadzide, together with the Director-General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Robert Sarfo Mensah, and the Board Chairman of the NSA, Kwadwo Baah Agyeman, will largely help in the course of the investigations.

Additionally, we would have wished that the President would direct the Sports Minister, Isaac Asiamah, to also step aside to enable the investigations to be done without any hindrance.

For now we are all waiting for the outcome of investigations, and we would like to state that all those who would be found culpable must be dealt with accordingly.