Ghana’s two biggest political parties, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) used national facilities, including the Accra stadium and Cape Coast stadium for their political party activities without paying a dime to the state.
According to SportsObama.com investigations, the NDC’s use of the newly built Cape Coast stadium for their campaign ahead of the 2016 General Elections came at no cost to the party, despite being presented with the facility user bill.
The Sports Development officer of the Central Region, Wilson Abedu, in confirming the story on Atinka TV Sports Court show that the NDC, whiles in power, requested for the use of the Cape Coast stadium for their campaign launch in August 2016 but the party left the stadium after the programme without settling the bills.
Meanwhile, sources at the venue revealed that, Dancehall artiste Shatta Wale paid over GH¢20,000 for the use of the same Cape Coast stadium for a one night concert.
In another breath, the NDC also rented the Accra Sports stadium for its final rally ahead of the 2016 elections and failed to make financial settlements to the national sports authority.
“The NDC when in power asked us to rent the Accra Sports stadium to them for their campaign but did not pay a dime for the use though we had given them the bill on request. They only paid GH¢10,000 to us for fuel to power the generators because electricity company of Ghana has disconnected power at the stadium”, NSA director Joe Kpenge told Atinka TV Sports Court.
“The NPP also hired the venue for their Thanksgiving service after winning the election but also did not pay for the facility. They also paid for the cost of fuel but not the facility user fee”,
The two parties were in power when they hired the venues so there is a difficulty in retrieving the monies from them. We could not do anything outside our powers. They were in power”, Kpenge added.
When contacted, the NPP deputy general secretary, Nana Obiri Boahen admitted that the party may not have paid for the facility but blamed the National Sports Authority for not writing a reminder letter to the party after the event.
The Accra Sports Stadium has for some occasions embarrassed Ghana due to damaged equipment including bulbs of the floodlights at the venue.
It took Pastor Mensah Otabil, General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church, [ICGC] to come to the rescue of the state in repairing the damaged floodlights at the venue. The repair was done ahead of the church’s use of the place at worship grounds of their 31st night service.
The Accra Sports Stadium was opened in the year 1960. The stadium got renovated in the years leading to the 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament which was hosted by Ghana.
The national stadia has become a ‘death trap’ with mounting calls for its closure. Corrosion and brakes have spammed part of the 40,000 capacity stadium amid growing concerns over the shocking state of the edifice.
The playing surface of the national stadia has been labeled ‘cassava farm’ due to its poor state.
But the two political parties, who have recently been hiring the stadia for their political activities, have become chief culprits for defaulting payment meant for the maintenance of the facility.
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