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Introduction
The year 2024 has been busy in the sporting calendar with many sporting events across the globe. The year began with the African Cup of Nations in January, and the Copa América held in the United States. Ghana also hosted the All-African Games in a multi-sport competition from March 8 to March 23, 2024.
Some of the events were global or regional, requiring the official representation of countries, while others were tournaments and championships that athletes attended in their capacities.
All these events require travel arrangements that involve the application and processing of visas for competing athletes or footballers. However, these visa applications and athlete participation in major tournaments have not been without scandals.
A few days ago, a new visa scandal hit the country involving members of the ‘Paralympic Team.’ The group was reported to have travelled to Norway for an international event and has since not been seen.
Background
A leaked document from the Ministry of National Security indicated that a Ghanaian para-athlete went missing in April 2024 after securing visas to attend a sporting event in Oslo.
This has prompted discussions and calls for thorough investigations and prosecution of individuals involved in this and other sports scandals, including the infamous Australian visa scandal.
Before discussing the recent visa scandal in Norway, it is important to recall a similar scandal in 2018.
Australian Visa Scandal
During the Commonwealth Games 2018, more than 60 Ghanaians were deported from Australia for posing as journalists to enter the country in April 2018. These people were deported for failing to convince Australian border officials that they were journalists. Australian border officials stated that although they had valid visas, they failed to show up with needed equipment to cover such sporting events. Before investigations into the scandal, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Pius Enam Hadzide and then Acting Director General at the National Sports Authority, Robert Sarfo Mensah, were suspended.
After the Bureau of National Investigation’s findings, Mr Hadzide was cleared of any wrongdoing. However, Mr Sarfo-Mensah remained suspended. The details of the report or findings were not made available for public perusal.
Aftermath reports indicated that the Criminal Investigations Department of Ghana Police could not arraign the culprits before a court because they could not obtain their details from the Australian High Commission in Ghana.
Norwegian visa scandal
In a similar incident, 11 alleged Paralympic athletes are on the run after failing to compete in the Fjordkraft Bergen Marathon in Oslo, Norway. Reports revealed that the 11-member contingent representing Ghana arrived in Oslo on April 25, 2024, but did not show up for the event.
The scandal came to light through a press statement by the Ministry of National Security. However, the Paralympic committee has been quick to respond.
National Paralympic Committee-Ghana Response
The President of the National Paralympic Committee of Ghana (NPC-Ghana), Samson Deen, issued a press statement on July 21, 2024, stating that none of their associated athletes were involved in any preparatory travel to Norway. In Paragraph 5 of the media statement, the NPC—Ghana listed that they had travelled to and returned from Egypt, Morocco, France, and Georgia for Olympic Games qualifiers from January to July 2024 with support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, insisting their members were not part of the trip to Norway.
Who are these individuals?
The eleven individuals reported to have vanished in Norway include a head coach, a welfare officer, an equipment manager, a trainer, a masseur, and six para-athletes.
The head coach, George Gyamfi Gyasi, was hospitalised at Oslo University Hospital after collapsing on April 28, 2024, and passed away on May 17, 2024, amid the team’s failure to compete in the marathon.
Nana Antwi, a para-athlete, has been apprehended. The nine others remain at large, with the Ministry of National Security confirming that the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and the Norwegian Embassy in Accra have been notified and are working to apprehend them.
| Name | Passport Number | Position |
| Goerge Gyamfi Gyasi (Dead) | G4476617 | Head Coach |
| Amanda Mireku | G4694933 | Welfare Officer |
| Feleicia Animah Mensah | G4789215 | Equipment Manager |
| Mathias Essien | G4551583 | Para Athlete |
| Emmanuel A Erigotoya Atanga | G4058538 | Para Athlete |
| Patrick Arhin Godwin Obiri | G3592030 | Trainer |
| Godwin Obiri | G4723131 | Para Athlete |
| Scotches Ofori | G2979319 | Para Athlete |
| Sylvester Andoh | G4679860 | Masseur |
| Yunusah Ali Kadiri | G3301434 | Para Athlete |
| Nana Antwi (Apprehended) | G2805363 | Para Athlete |
What is the Ministry of Youth and Sports saying?
In a press briefing, Mustapha Yusif, Ghana’s sports minister, told journalists that his outlet can not be held responsible for this scandal. He said that according to the protocols associated with such sporting outings, federations or individuals must contact the National Sports Authority, the technical body in charge of visa assistance. The National Sports Authority then writes to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for help from the government. He reiterated that the Ministry of Youth and Sports liaises with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work on their behalf. As a result, his ministry does not deal with embassies directly for visas.
He blamed the Norwegian Embassy for failing to ensure due diligence with the applications of these “supposed Paralympic athletes.”
“The Norwegian authority which issued the visas to the Athletes didn’t see it prudent to even verify from the ministry to see whether these are genuine athletes or not, so to your question, whether I take responsibility, I’m sorry I can’t,” he said.
He appealed to all other visa-issuing authorities to carefully scrutinise similar applications without supporting documents from either the Ministry of Youth and Sports or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integrations. He encouraged them to verify from the ministries to avoid future occurrences of such nature.
What is the Norwegian Embassy saying?
The key details of how the scandal unfolded remain unclear, as the Norwegian Embassy has remained tight-lipped. DUBAWA’s efforts to obtain a response from the embassy have been unsuccessful. A BBC report indicated that the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ghana does not comment on individual cases due to confidentiality. Additionally, Norway’s National Police Immigration Service, responsible for recording and repatriating individuals illegally residing in the country, also refrained from commenting on individual cases, as indicated by the BBC.
Action taken by the National Paralympic Committee
The National Paralympic Committee (NPC) has imposed an indefinite ban on some officials for falsifying documents to obtain visas for supposed para-athletes and officials travelling to Norway. Among those banned are Theodore Mawuli Viwotor, former General Secretary of the Ghana Amputee Football Association, and Yaw Ayisi, founder of the Ernestay Foundation, due to their involvement in the incident.
In a statement, the committee indicated that “the leadership of the NPC Ghana has taken cognisance of your actions and activities, which include unwarranted letters to embassies in Ghana requesting visas for and on behalf of purported para-athletes and officials.
“And also the falsification of the NPC-Ghana letterhead, forging the NPC’s president’s signature and stamp for your illegal operations.”
Meanwhile, the NPC is expected to release a statement in the coming days, revealing the findings of their preliminary investigation into the matter.
