Ablakwa details new stadia renovations expenditure, points Akufo-Addo’s cousin as complicit

Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has revealed new documents detailing how the government’s huge expenditure on stadia renovation yielded no results.

In a continuation of his exposé on the misuse of state funds, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has revealed further details about the payments made to Kelvin Ofori-Atta for stadia rehabilitations. Despite these substantial expenditures, Ghana’s stadia have been banned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) from hosting international competitions, leading to significant national embarrassment.

Annual Payments Breakdown

Intercepted payment vouchers show that since 2019, President Akufo-Addo and former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta ensured that their cousin, Kelvin Ofori-Atta, received large sums annually for stadium rehabilitations. Kelvin Ofori-Atta owns Coupbay and Cisdan, the companies awarded contracts to renovate the Accra Sports Stadium and the Essipong Sports Stadium.

Here is a breakdown of the payments:

1. March 18, 2019: Coupbay received GHS6,006,868.44 for the Accra Sports Stadium.

2. June 18, 2020: Coupbay received GHS10,662,700.28 for the Accra Sports Stadium.

3. March 10, 2021: Coupbay received GHS4,754,829.56 for the Accra Sports Stadium.

4. May 27, 2022: Coupbay received GHS4,325,539.84 for the Accra Sports Stadium.

5. December 29, 2023: Cisdan received GHS6,511,245.66 for the Essipong Sports Stadium.

These payments total GHS32,261,183.78.

Failure to achieve value for money

Ablakwa argues that despite the massive investment, the rehabilitations did not deliver value for money, resulting in the CAF ban. He highlights the difficulty of ensuring performance and accountability in transactions marred by conflicts of interest. The situation has left Ghana in the humiliating position of seeking assistance from neighbouring countries like Togo and Ivory Coast to host international football competitions.

Ablakwa hinted that when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is voted into power in the upcoming December 7, 2024 election, the government would hold those responsible for this international embarrassment accountable through the implementation of “Operation-Recover-All-Loot” (ORAL).

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