Feeding expenditure raises eyebrows
A document purported to be the expenditure for feeding of Ghanaian supporters in Brazil raised eyebrows yesterday at the Justice Dzamefe Commission’s sitting at the Media Centre of the Accra Stadium.
Advertisement
It was tendered in evidence by one of the caterers for the World Cup project, Mrs Gertrude Quashigah, Chief Executive of Ambar Quality Foods Limited, who described the prices contained in it as being unrealistic.
Startling revelations
A disappointed Mrs Quashigah disclosed to the commission that just before they returned home, Fred Darko gave them that sheet of paper to read through after which she and her two colleagues were given US$17,200 each for their services. That, she said, was after the former Sports Minister, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, had earlier sent US$6,000 to them to share through one ‘chairman Danny’.
At a stage, the witness became emotional as she told the commission that the figures she saw were unrealistic since she could get those same items on the local market at half the price or even lower.
‘It was very worrying, pathetic and sad. The way things were handled at such an international tournament as the World Cup was very pathetic,’ she said mixing vernacular with English.
During cross-examination, Mrs Quashigah explained that she had a fair idea of prices following an earlier visit to a shop in Natal in the company of one Afua Adoboe on the instructions of one Larry Acheampong who sent a driver to pick them at the camp.
The chairman of the commission, Justice Senyo Dzamefe, then asked her to furnish them with the name of the shop to enable them to continue with their investigations.
According to her, though the caterers finally agreed on a $45 per head at a meeting in Accra which was later reduced by $10 by the operational team to be given to the supporters as pocket money and breakfast, they got to know on arrival in Brazil that they were only going to be paid for cooking for the supporters instead of providing catering services.
She said having had her $68 proposal reduced to $35, coupled with a promise of a 70 per cent advance payment, she travelled to Brazil on June 12 with hope only to encounter problems right on arrival when they were told that the chefs at the village had been tasked to cater for the supporters on the first day.
She revealed that the supporters, however, complained about the food, compelling Larry Acheampong to send five different consignments to the caterers to cook for them, two of which she took inventory of on June 14 and 15.
‘We had a lot of challenges; it was very traumatising and we were confused. We had to do all we could for mother Ghana and sometimes slept at 2a.m.
‘We were just patriotic. We’re not children; we’re business executives. I complained to them but they all fell on deaf ears and there was nothing I could do,’ she lamented.
Having served Ghanaian supporters at South Africa 2010, she said she managed to send some spices to Brazil which helped them provide the over 600 supporters with some good quality dishes throughout their stay.
Mrs Quashigah noted with concern that their persistent appeals to the operational team for further compensation on their return yielded no fruits.
Monees Foods
The third caterer, Monica Yawa Ntumy, of Monees Foods corroborated the evidence of her colleagues but could not make any demands when confronted with a question by the commission as to whether she thought the $19,200 paid to each of them was not enough.
Just like the others, she said she served the committee members with assorted foods on a number of occasions all in a bid to win the contract which was eventually awarded her on March 24, 2014.
According to her, she quoted $62 per head for the over 600 supporters but didn’t carry along any ingredients to Brazil.
Media Committee
When the chairman of the Media Committee, Mr Ackah Anthony, reappeared yesterday, he told the commission that the World Cup website was actually created by Gorsel Limited and managed by Dominion Tehnologies as revealed to him by Fred Darko.
He also could not provide the document containing the agreement reached between the Ministry and the designer following a briefing by Fred Darko that those details could only be provided by Dentaa Amoateng who is based in the UK.
For his part, a member of the committee, Christopher Opoku, told the commission that though he was approached by his friend, Yaw Ampofo Ankrah, on the instructions of his brother, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, to serve as the spokesperson for the entire project, that was not to be, informing his decision to resign on February 17 but was impressed upon by the minister to reconsider his decision.
Advertisement
On the selection of website designers, he said three companies - Gorsel, Soft Cliq and Dominion Technologies – made a presentation at a meeting after which Soft Cliq was chosen.
Dominion Technologies’ evidence
The Chief Executive of Dominion Technologies, Elly Evans, told the commission that he was later contacted on phone by Dentaa Amoateng to attend a stakeholders meeting at Akosombo on April 20, 2014 where he was asked to manage the website.
According to him, Dentaa later told him that the website had been handed over to him, giving him the right to change the password as well.
He said he subsequently created a new website after being asked by Larry Acheampong and Mr Kwesi Taylor at a meeting on April 28, 2014, to scrape the old website and create a new one within three days.
Advertisement
He said he accordingly presented the new design to them on May 1 and a highly impressed Mr Taylor gave him GH¢50 for a drink.
Mr Evans said following the website launch on May 7, he was offered GH¢5,000 which was a far cry from his earlier $5,000 charge, out of which Elvis Afriyie Ankrah made an advance payment of GH¢1,000 on June 16.
Moses Foh-Amoaning commended him and the caterers for their patriotism and urged players of the Black Stars and other Ghanaians to emulate it.
Agbesi Nutsu, the camp commandant, who was the last witness, could not finish his evidence and was asked to reappear on Monday.
Advertisement