The canker of governments sitting aloof for state cash to be misappropriated after which Commissions and Committees of Inquiry are set continue to prevail in spite of the spotlight the media and civil society put on politicians and public office holders.
Investigations conducted by DAYBREAK have revealed that some powerful hands at the Office of the President have put spanners in wheels of a directive to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to probe the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in the Brazil World Cup scandal.
As a consequence, over million dollars of hard cash still remain unaccounted for and officials who should be questioned as stipulated in the Government White Paper still walking free.
Government White Paper made public after the last Brazil World Cup directed the BNI, among other things, to investigate the GFA by way of forensic audit to ascertain the claims of losses totaling $1,002,000.00 incurred during the matches involving Ghana v Cape Verde, Ghana v Nigeria and Ghana v Togo.
The report also asked the BNI to further investigate the claim that an amount of $350,000 received from the Japan match was used to offset the deficit incurred in the Ghana v Cape Verde match as well as some $200,000 paid to the GFA President, Mr. Kwasi Nyantakyi by the state towards a friendly match whilst preparing for the World Cup 2014 in Brazil to clear any doubt of double funding or misappropriation of funds.
DAYBREAK gathered, however, that before the BNI officials could begin investigations into the matter, a very influential former Chief Director with close connections to a key Presidential Staffer (name withheld), intervened on behalf of GFA, imploring the Presidential Staffer to pussyfoot steps to be taken by the BNI to initiate full-scale investigations.
In spite of the fact that the panel had then been set, it failed to tick because of the meddling of the former Chief Director. Now instead of the panel starting official investigations, all we have is unofficial contacts by the Chief Director and GFA capos with members of the panel at Fiesta Royale and at times the home of the former Chief Director.
Strangely, five months after the 2016 elections, the scandal continues to remain only a talking point on corruption with only perception angles, when officials paid from the pocket of the poor taxpayer dilly-dally over the saga.
