Commission applauds AAG boss

The President of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG) chairman of the Marketing Sub-Committee for the World Cup Project, Mr Joel Nettey, yesterday broke the monotony at the Justice Dzamefe Commission with an impressive delivery which was applauded by the three commissioners.

In his three-hour presentation inspired by his counsel Dennis Adjei-Dwomoh, the eloquent Mr Nettey easily won the hearts of the commissioners and the mediamen present with his coherent and well-packaged evidence which also bordered on his role as the head of the operational team.

Ill-feelings

Unlike two other witnesses - Elvis Afriyie Ankrah and Kojo Adu Asare - who broke down in tears at the peak of their evidence in previous sittings, Mr Nettey received a hand clap from Justice Dzamefe, while Moses Foh-Amoaning acknowledged the fact that he had been a ‘fantastic witness’.

The spontaneous reaction by the commission was, especially, provoked by the concern expressed by Mr Nettey that instead of being applauded for raising GH¢4.5million from 41 sponsors in a difficult financial year, he and his colleagues were rather being vilified by the unprofessional conduct of a section of the media.

“Despite the efforts of the committee, there was no applause from anywhere. Rather, we have been accused of corruption by Ghanaians.

“It’s unfortunate that in our part of the world, good deeds are written on water while bad deeds are written on brass,” he lamented.

He pointed out that all he earned for his service was GH¢810 less tax, made up of sitting allowances from two plenary sessions (GH¢200 per sitting) and five sub-committee meetings (GH¢100 per sitting). 

He expressed the fear that if that practice was not checked, other Ghanaian professionals would be discouraged from sacrificing for the nation in future.

“I’m very worried about going to sponsors in the future,” he confessed, provoking a quick response from the commission.

In reaction, Mr Foh-Amoaning reminded him that the commission’s work was to help rebrand the Black Stars which he was worried about, while Justice Dzamefe retorted ‘what we’re doing is rather in your favour - to make the Black Stars come back to winning ways in order to win the confidence of sponsors as a worthy product in the whole of Africa by putting the right systems and structures in place.’

He later told the commission that he had the opportunity of working with a group of passionate people who were willing to die for mother Ghana and seized the opportunity to thank President John Mahama and the former Minister for giving him the opportunity to serve, while praising his committee members for their great contributions.

Achievements, challenges

According to Mr Nettey, who did not travel to Brazil, though his committee was tasked to raise GH¢5 million, it later set itself the target of raising GH¢10 million, consisting of GH¢6million from corporate sponsorship and GH¢4million through a text and win promotion.

He, however, expressed regret that the promotion ended up yielding only GH¢145,301.38, leading to the committee’s decision to truncate it simply because it took off late.

At this point, Justice Dzamefe questioned the logic in running an advert by Roots Image  for GH¢323,450.52, while the promo itself fetched only GH¢145,301.38.

In his response, Mr Nettey explained that the committee had projected ahead to raise GHC4m, which was why it decided to abandon the promotion in the face of the challenges.

To the surprise of the commission, Mr Nettey also disclosed that his committee was not permitted to use the Black Stars name during their fundraising campaign because the GFA had already sold the rights to some corporate sponsors.

Asked whether he consulted the GFA or the Sports Minister on the matter, he said he thought the issue was beyond the Minister.

He also told the commission that three vehicles were procured for the promo managed by Mobile Content, two of which were presented to the winners and the other one given to the Sports Ministry as a legacy.

Disagreement

Mr Nettey, who doubles as the Chief Executive of Innova DDB Ghana, an advertising company contracted by MTN, emphasised he did not allow that to conflict with his role in anyway, while also disagreeing with Fred Darko’s earlier assertion that MTN’s counter-promo sabotaged that of the World Cup Project.

He also stressed that telecommunications companies did not in anyway err in running corresponding promotions since they saw it as an opportunity to raise their revenue as usual.

He also thought that the last-minute request for extra fans created the whole problem since the GH¢4.5m raised could have airlifted supporters to Brazil out of the total of 612.

Meeting with travel agents

Tendering two separate letters concerning the termination of contract between Ethiopian Airlines and African Origin and Sports Tourism on one hand, and African Origin’s claim to have paid for the chartered flight, on the other, Mr Nettey further disclosed to the commission that the conflicting nature of the documents the Minister handed to him prompted an urgent meeting with the three travel agents, Travel Matters and Kenpong Travel and Tours, on June 4, 2014.

He pointed out that it came out at the meeting that it was Travel Matters which had rather secured three chartered flights for the trip in partnership with Litina.

Second witness, controversy

The second witness of the day, Mr Horace Nii Ayi Ankrah, could not convince the commission as to how a caterer’s GH¢34 proposal turned out to be $35 in Brazil and so was asked to reappear today with some supporting documents.

The chairman of the Events, Grounds and Logistics Sub-Committee had narrated how eight catering companies were interviewed alongside the selection of three entertainers.

He spelt out the criteria used in arriving at the selection of the final three, Amber Quality Foods Limited, Monees Foods and Kenkey Boutique, and also admitted before the commission that the applicants continually served he and his members with food during their meetings.

He also told the commission that he was part of the six-man delegation which first travelled to Brazil to inspect facilities and interact with Brazilian officials after interviewing the local travel agents.