Kofi Adams is the Minister for Sports and Recreation
The Minister for Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams, has accused the Chief Executive Officer of Tribe Culture Fest, Nana Boateng Gyimah, of being behind the visa fraud allegations against him and other government officials, led by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah.
According to him, Boateng Gyimah has been giving the MP false information to divert attention from money he illegally collected under an agreement between his company and the National Sports Authority (NSA) to transport Ghanaians to the 2026 World Cup, which he is supposed to refund.
He claimed that the CEO took about $611,000 illegally and is now driving all sorts of narratives to avoid refunding the money.
Kofi Adams said the individual, identified in the interview as SFY, was pushing information into the public domain to cloud the circumstances surrounding the money and avoid refunding it.
“He cannot run away with $611,000 of people's money. We must make sure that we get him, and if it is found that right from the word go, he deceived the people, we must take the appropriate criminal actions,” the minister stated.
In an interview on TV3 on October 11, 2026, on the controversy surrounding a list of 90 people submitted for visa processing ahead of Ghana's participation in the FIFA World Cup, Adams also disclosed details of communication involving the US Embassy and his ministry over the verification of four individuals presented as National Sports Authority (NSA) staff.
According to him, the embassy had requested information on the four individuals in a submission made directly by the NSA on March 18, 2026, before the ministry's formal arrangement with the authority began.
The minister said that he subsequently contacted the NSA's Director-General to establish whether the individuals were genuine employees and requested their staff identification numbers, salary levels, employment dates and duty stations.
He said the Director-General informed him that the four individuals were not NSA employees, prompting him to respond to the verification request.
“I signed and indicated that they are not known to the ministry and NSA,” he said, explaining that his response was a verification note rather than a formal letter.
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The minister stressed that the four individuals belonged to an earlier submission and were not part of the 90-person list at the centre of the current controversy.
No embassy complaint over 90 names
Mr Adams rejected claims that some of the 90 people submitted to the US Embassy had been misrepresented as NSA staff or board members.
He said the list forwarded to the ministry described the individuals as event coordinators and facilitation personnel, adding that no formal communication had been received from the embassy alleging that any of the names had been misrepresented.
“Till now, we don't have any such information that anybody was misrepresented on that list, the 90 list. No such information exists anywhere,” he said.
He further maintained that neither the US Embassy, the NSA nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had formally notified his ministry of any irregularities involving the 90 names.
According to the minister, the claims being circulated appeared to combine details from separate submissions, making it necessary to distinguish the earlier four-name verification request from the list of 90.
1,023 visa applications processed
Providing further details about the wider visa arrangements, Adams disclosed that approximately 1,023 applications were processed across the relevant categories, including categories A and B1/B2, but only 441 applicants were issued visas.
He said the ministry's role was to facilitate the submission of names, while applicants were responsible for completing their forms and attending their visa appointments.
Adams also noted that not all ministry officials with established employment records, including salaries and payslips, secured visas, arguing that a refusal did not necessarily mean an applicant had been misrepresented.
He maintained that the ministry was not responsible for determining who ultimately received a visa.
The minister's comments come amid questions about the identities and descriptions of people included in the disputed list, as well as the circumstances surrounding the alleged collection of $611,000.
While Adams has pointed to the earlier embassy verification request as evidence of his ministry's handling of the matter, the precise connection between the alleged financial dealings and the visa arrangements remains to be independently established.
Watch video of his remarks below:
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