Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye has dismissed an attempt by the Minority Member of Parliament for Mion, Abdul Aziz to compel the youth and sports minister, Isaac Asiamah to respond to questions on the visa racketeering ‘scandal’.
MP for Mion, wanted the sports minister to abreast the house with report on the visa racketeering scandal.
The sports minister in his defense, said the report was still under investigations at the national security.
The MP, however, appeared infuriated by the sports minister’s response and insisted on a rebuttal.
But the speaker of Parliament was quick to jump to the defense of the minister and dismissed the appeal to get details of the report.
“Honorable Minister, you’ve been told which state sits on this matter, which you yourself described as a ‘scandal’ so is a very sensitive matter and it is before national security, ” he reiterated.
“How can he comment when the matter is before the national security, he quizzed.
He , therefore advised the MP to seek clarifications from the appropriate minister at the national security.
“Direct your question to that authority, is a very simple matter, ” he stressed.
Background
The sports ministry and the national sports Authority were alleged to be involved in the visa racketeering scandal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
The authorities was accused of facilitating visas for some 73 individuals and charging them between GH¢15,000 and GH¢22,000 to secure visas to Australia.
The deputy sports minister who was ‘fingered’ in the said allegation was later cleared based on a CID Report.
The CID report explained “Even though a greater number of journalists and others applied through the link opened by the Gold Coast Organising Committee, all of them had their applications approved.”
It adds that out of the 12 people who were handed over for investigation, three were indeed journalists from accredited media houses whilst one was a staff of the National Sports Authority.
“The remaining eight (8) were those found to have posed as journalists. They will all be arraigned before the court for making false declarations to obtain visas after we have obtained the necessary supporting evidence,” the report adds.
“The allegation that the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Honourable Pius Enam Hadzide, facilitated the inclusion of several names into the Commonwealth Games accreditation system could not be proven.
“Also allegation that one Patrick collected twelve thousand United States dollars ($12,000) from one Maxwell on behalf of Honourable Hadzide could not be established,” the CID report says.
The report adds: “The alleged meeting between the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports, his Deputy and the Acting Director-General of the National Sports Authority where the Acting Director-General was alleged to have stated that he caused four names to be included in the accreditation list whilst the Board Chairman of the NSA also caused five names to be added have all been denied.
There no evidence to support the alleged meeting and the confession.”
Meanwhile, the sports minister earlier today, told the house that the case has since been referred to the national security.