Mr Vincent Ekow Assafuah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Tafo, has confirmed receiving three tickets for Ghana’s 2026 FIFA World Cup match against Panama but said they were officially allocated to members of Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee.
He said the tickets were not a personal allocation, contrary to remarks by Mr Kofi Adams, Minister of Sports and Recreation, that he had requested three tickets, each valued at 450 dollars, for the match.
Mr Assafuah, the Ranking Member of the Committee, said the tickets were allocated through the Clerk following a directive from the Committee’s Vice Chairman, Mr Solomon Kuyon.
In a statement, he said the allocation applied to all committee members in the United States, including the Chairman, Mr Ernest Henry Norgbey, and members from both the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The clarification comes amid parliamentary scrutiny of government expenditure on Ghana’s participation in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Mr Adams told the Committee that the Ministry spent approximately 1.26 million dollars to procure 2,922 tickets for Ghana’s three group-stage matches.
The Ministry purchased 948 tickets for the Panama match, 1,000 for the England fixture and 974 for the Croatia game.
It has explained that the tickets were procured for distribution rather than resale, with the cost including a 10 per cent administrative charge permitted by FIFA.
Mr Assafuah said the focus of the parliamentary inquiry should be on broader accountability issues surrounding government expenditure on the tournament.
“We are asking for accountability, not ticket arithmetic,” he said.
He also reiterated concerns raised by the Parliamentary Minority regarding the whereabouts of the Sports Minister’s driver and a secretary at the office of the Ministry’s Chief Director.
The Minority alleges that the two travelled to the United States under government sponsorship but have not returned to Ghana.
According to the Minority, the two were among 431 people whose participation in the tournament was allegedly sponsored by the government.
It has called for the publication of the names and passport numbers of all sponsored travellers to establish their return status.
The claims concerning the whereabouts of the two individuals have not been independently verified.
Reports on the Ministry’s position, however, indicate that the government maintains that all 431 sponsored travellers have returned to Ghana.
