BY Daniel Bampoe
The controversy surrounding Ghana’s preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has escalated into a wider institutional scandal after the Minority in Parliament has leaked a correspondence submitted to the United States Embassy contained questionable job titles and identities for persons presented as officials of the National Sports Authority (NSA).
The Minority’s latest allegations have shifted attention from the suspended former NSA Director-General, Yaw Ampofo Ankrah, to a broader network involving the NSA, the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), the Ministry of Sports and Recreation and private entity TRIBE Culture Fest.
The Minority insists that the removal of Ampofo Ankrah cannot bring the matter to an end because, in its view, the documentary trail raises questions about who prepared names, assigned official positions, authorised correspondence and facilitated applications.
The Minority is therefore calling for the dismissal of Kofi Iddie Adams, Sports and Recreation Minister and Maame Efua Houadjeto, GTA Chief Executice who are alleged accomplices.
The controversy follows allegations that more than US$600,000 was collected from prospective travellers seeking assistance with World Cup-related visa and travel arrangements, with some applicants allegedly paying as much as US$10,000.
The allegations triggered security investigations and ultimately led to the removal of Yaw Ampofo Ankrah from his position as Director-General of the NSA. Ampofo Ankrah has denied wrongdoing, while the NSA has previously denied authorising employees to collect money or facilitate visas on its behalf.
But according to the Minority, the most significant development in the case may have occurred much earlier, when the U.S. Embassy’s Fraud Prevention Unit began questioning the institutional identities of some applicants involved in the “visa connection”.
U.S. Embassy raises red flags
Addressing journalists in Parliament, the Ranking Member on the Youth and Sports Committee, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, said that on March 18, 2026, the Fraud Prevention Unit of the U.S. Embassy identified discrepancies involving four applicants submitted under the NSA’s World Cup visa arrangements.
The four individuals were named as Ralph Egyir Quianoo, Belinda Tsey, Francis Frimpong Agyemang and Beryl Joycelyn Baabe Duut.
According to the Minority, they had been presented respectively as an Operations Coordinator, Business Administrator, World Cup Coordinator and Research and Technology Officer.
Assafuah said the Minority’s verification indicated that the positions attributed to the four did not exist within the NSA’s organisational structure.
The U.S. Embassy subsequently requested employment letters or other documentation to establish whether the applicants were genuinely employed by the NSA. The Minority says the NSA responded by confirming their appointments and travel support.
The development, Assafuah argued, transformed the matter from an ordinary visa application controversy into a question of how a Ghanaian public institution represented individuals to a foreign diplomatic mission.
The January 28 correspondence
The Minority has also placed particular emphasis on an email dated January 28, 2026, allegedly signed by Yaw Gyamfi Kusi Awere, then Chief Operating Officer of the NSA, and sent to the U.S. Embassy under the subject “NSA STAFF APPOINTMENTS.”
According to Assafuah, the communication introduced 22 persons for visa appointments as NSA personnel.
The Minority says its examination of the list identified several questionable designations.
Fuseini Lukman was allegedly presented as the Northern Region Coordinator, while Ekow Hayford was associated with Sports Development. Francis Owusu and Felicia Ahiadome were allegedly identified as Procurement Officers.
The Minority also singled out Comfort Ahiadome, who it says was presented as the Board Secretary of the NSA.
Assafuah questioned the basis for the designation, arguing that the NSA Board did not, at the time, have Comfort Ahiadome serving as its officially appointed Board Secretary. He maintained that the information communicated to the U.S. Embassy therefore requires verification against the Authority’s official organisational and administrative records.
The issue is significant because the correspondence was not merely an internal administrative document. It was allegedly submitted to a foreign diplomatic mission in connection with visa processing.
The Canadian Embassy Raises Questions
The Minority says similar concerns subsequently emerged in dealings with the Canadian Embassy.
According to Assafuah, after a June 2 meeting concerning Ghana Fan Fest and other World Cup-related activities in Canada, the Canadian Embassy requested that the NSA provide an updated list identifying applicants’ actual employment, roles and reasons for travelling.
On June 8, the NSA allegedly submitted a list containing 102 names.
The Minority claims that only 15 of the 102 individuals could be verified as NSA personnel, leaving 87 whose status as employees or personnel of the Authority, according to the Minority’s checks, could not be established.
Among the examples cited was Susan Agyeiwaa Kudom, who was allegedly presented as a Procurement Officer despite the Minority’s claim that she did not hold that position.
Another individual, Francis Amoako Owusu, was also allegedly presented as a Procurement Officer. The Minority further cited Linda Oduro Tenkorang, whom it said was presented as a Chaplain despite not being an NSA employee.
The Canadian Embassy’s request for clarification, according to the Minority, therefore raises questions about who compiled the list, who verified the applicants’ credentials and who authorised their descriptions as NSA personnel or affiliates.
The visa fees and TRIBE connection
The controversy also centres on the relationship between TRIBE Culture Fest and Ghanaian state institutions.
The Minority says an agreement between TRIBE and the NSA contemplated a cost of US$3,000 per person for U.S. visa-related processing and US$2,000 for Canadian applications, covering associated accommodation, logistics and processing arrangements.
Yet, according to the Minority, some individuals seeking access to the arrangement were allegedly charged between US$7,000 and US$14,000, with some allegedly paying US$8,000 or US$9,000.
The Minority says it wants investigators to trace every payment, establish who received the funds and determine what services the payments covered.
It also wants the relationship between TRIBE and the GTA examined, including reported arrangements concerning visa processing and accommodation for GTA personnel travelling for World Cup-related activities.
The Minority has questioned the utilisation of visa allocations reportedly made available to the GTA and NSA, and is demanding records showing how many applications were submitted, how many were approved or rejected and whether the slots were used strictly for the institutional purposes for which they were allocated.
Spotlight turns to Kofi Adams
With the documentary questions widening, the Minority has turned its attention directly to Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Adams.
Assafuah has called for the minister’s dismissal and investigation, arguing that the Ministry cannot be separated from the institutional processes surrounding the visa arrangements.
The Minority has specifically questioned the circumstances under which correspondence from the NSA reached the Ministry and was subsequently transmitted to the U.S. Embassy.
However, the Minister’s spokesperson, Wonder Sitsofe Mandel, has rejected the allegations, saying the Minority’s 49-page statement contains no evidence linking Adams or the Ministry to illegal visa facilitation, financial misconduct or dealings with private travel operators.
According to Mandel, the Ministry had no direct commercial or operational agreement with TRIBE Culture Fest and the minister did not facilitate visas illegally or receive financial benefit from the process. He said an inter-agency committee involving the Ministries of Sports, Finance, Tourism and Foreign Affairs worked with the U.S. Embassy to establish secure visa application channels.
The Ministry has also disputed the Minority’s account of an NSA request, saying official records show that the relevant correspondence reached the Ministry on May 10 rather than March 19. Mandel said the request concerned administrative support for 90 volunteers and event operators associated with TRIBE Culture Fest and that Adams merely referred the matter to the Chief Director for onward consideration by the appropriate technical body.
He stressed that forwarding the request for due diligence did not amount to approving or guaranteeing visas for the individuals named.
GTA CEO also under pressure
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Maame Afua Houadjeto, has equally come under pressure from the Minority.
The Caucus argues that the GTA was not an outsider to the arrangements because of its reported relationship with TRIBE and its involvement in World Cup-related tourism preparations.
The Minority has raised questions about reported visa allocations, the identities of people submitted under GTA arrangements and allegations that some individuals who were not GTA employees may have been offered access to visa opportunities.
It is demanding an examination of the contractual relationship between the GTA and TRIBE, payments made under that arrangement, any outstanding balances, and the authority under which the arrangements were entered into.
The Minority has called for the GTA CEO to be removed pending a full investigation and has said that anyone found to have knowingly participated in criminal conduct should face prosecution.
The Minority argues that the critical issue is not simply whether individuals obtained visas but whether the names, letterheads, institutional authority and credibility of Ghanaian public institutions were used to support representations made to foreign governments.
It wants investigators to determine who prepared the lists, who verified the names, who approved the descriptions and whether anyone knowingly presented people who were not public-sector employees as NSA or GTA personnel.
The Minority also wants financial records, bank transactions, telephone communications, immigration records and official correspondence examined to establish whether money changed hands and, if so, who benefited.
The U.S. and Canadian Embassy correspondence has become central to that argument because, according to the Minority, both diplomatic missions raised questions about the identities, employment status and roles of some applicants.
Calls for wider investigation
Assafuah has therefore insisted that the removal of Yaw Ampofo Ankrah must be regarded only as the beginning of accountability, rather than its conclusion.
The Minority is demanding investigations into Kofi Adams, the GTA leadership, NSA officials, Ministry officials, TRIBE Culture Fest and any other persons whose conduct may emerge from the documentary trail.
It has also called for the alleged collection and movement of money to be investigated, along with the preparation and transmission of institutional lists and the alleged use of positions that did not exist within the NSA’s organisational structure.
