Mustapha Ussif is a former Minister of Youth and Sports
Before President John Dramani Mahama’s administration launched a forensic audit into the 13th African Games expenditure, one of the most controversial moments had already unfolded before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.
With conversations about mismanagement circulating in the aftermath of the games, then Minister of Sports, Mustapha Ussif, appeared to defend the ministry’s spending.
During the probe, Ussif, insisted his ministry had paid $3 million to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) for broadcast coverage.
The statement, made under oath, was meant to clarify how portions of the $195 million infrastructure budget and additional funds allocated for operations were utilized. But rather than calm suspicions, it deepened them.
At the time, GBC vehemently denied ever receiving that amount, maintaining that the state broadcaster only got $105,000, not the $3 million the ministry claimed.
How a 16-year-old footballer died after alleged sexual abuse by his coach
The contradiction sparked widespread public debates, with Parliament’s Accounts Committee demanding supporting documentation from the Ministry of Sports to verify the payment.
The controversy formed part of a larger cloud over Ghana’s hosting of the 13th All-African Games, a project Parliament had approved at $195 million for infrastructure, but which ballooned to over $250 million in reported expenditure.
According to reports, an additional $150 million was said to have gone to the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for operational costs, further fueling concerns of mismanagement and inflated spending.
It was against this backdrop that President Mahama, on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, ordered a forensic audit into the Games’ finances, seeking answers to how and where the funds were spent, and whether public resources meant to boost Ghana’s sporting legacy were instead lost to poor accountability.
Watch the video below:
FKA/AE
Meanwhile, watch the latest edition of Sports Check with Godwin Sackey in the post below
