The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is calling for the dismissal of Minister for Youth and Sports Mustapha Ussif citing the streak of complaints from federations, athletes and countries in the ongoing 2023 African Games.
This follows the withdrawal of South Africa’s hockey teams from the competition. The authorities from South Africa cited the rampant rescheduling of matches as well as the poor nature of the Theodosia Okoh pitch.
This according to a statement released on Monday, March 18, 2024, is enough embarrassment to raise concerns about the acclaimed investments made for the hosting of the Games.
“We are told that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government has spent a colossal USD$195 million on pre-games preparations, while a staggering USD$48 million has been made available to the Local Organising Committee for transportation, feeding and other logistics for the games,” parts of the statement read.
“The NDC is appalled by the outrageous amount of money that has been sunk into the ongoing All Africa games by the ruling NPP government, which have so far yielded nothing but embarrassment and shame for our country.”
They are thus urging Hon. Mustapha Ussif to take the honourable step of resigning to preserve his reputation.
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“The resignation and/or dismissal of the Minister of Youth and Sports for his gross incompetence which has occasioned this monumental embarrassment to the nation,” the statement added.
They are also calling for the “Dissolution of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the ongoing All African Games.” and a “Forensic audit into the budget and expenditure for the preparation and organization of the games as well as “A televised probe by Parliament into the expenditure and organisation of the games.
The ongoing African Games has seen several events unfold with Egypt bagging the most medals (156 medals) while Ghana sits sixth with 46 medals.