Govt to sanction all involved in 2014 World Cup financial malfeasance
President John Dramani Mahama has given an assurance that people found culpable of financial malfeasance by the Commission investigating Ghana’s participation in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil would be prosecuted in the law courts.
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"No one would be spared," he said and added that Ghana's football would not be the same after the commission's work.
He gave the assurance when he addressed hundreds of Ghanaians at Worcester in Massachusetts, USA, on Saturday.
President Mahama, who was in New York to attend the 69th UN General Assembly, took the opportunity to visit Massachusetts to interact with Ghanaians living in that part of the United States.
President Mahama said the government would not hide the commission's report but rather make it public for all Ghanaians to appreciate its work.
Questions
In answer to a question as to what he was doing about corruption, President Mahama said, "I have taken measures to investigate corruption . . .," adding that he had set up a commission of inquiry to look into what happened in Brazil so that Ghanaians would be a part of the process to see what happened there.
“When the commission finishes its work, we will publish the report for all Ghanaians to see and we all will take the decisions. If we have to sanction people, we have to sanction them,” he stated.
The three-member commission, chaired by a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Senyo Dzamefe, started work in August this year.
Other members of the commission are a law lecturer and renowned sports analyst, Mr Moses Foh-Amoaning, and a football enthusiast, Mr Kofi Anokye Owusu Darko.
The commission is operating under the powers of a High Court in accordance with Articles 278,279 and 280 of the 1992 Constitution.
So far, the commission has heard startling revelations from a number of officials who played various roles in Ghana’s participation in the tournament.
Among officials who have testified before the commission are the immediate past Sports Minister, Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, former Black Stars coach, Kwasi Appiah, and Mr Fred Pappoe, an executive committee member of the Local Black Stars.