The Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Pius Enam Hadzide, and the Board Chairman of the National Sports Authority, Kwadwo Baah Agyeman, have officially been reinstated.
This was confirmed in a statement from the Presidency issued today [Monday], July 9, 2018.
This comes after President Akufo-Addo announced that the investigation into the recent Australia Commonwealth games visa scandal showed that Mr. Hadzide was not complicit in any wrongdoing.
The investigations were carried out by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
Speaking at the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) 26th delegates conference on Saturday at Koforidua, President Akufo-Addo said, “on the Australian visa scandal which has exonerated the suspended deputy minister for youth and sports from any complicity in the visa fraud, I will lift his suspension on Monday and return him to the office.”
The President said the government will continue to ensure that allegations of corruption leveled against any of his appointees are duly investigated.
Pius Hadzide, who was suspended in April 2018 over the matter, said at the time he was hopeful of being exonerated after a probe into the circumstances that led to the arrest of the 60 Ghanaians who had allegedly attempted to enter Australia by pretense in the 21st Commonwealth Games.
Mr. Hadzide insisted that he knew nothing about the scandal or how the 60 people who faked their identities got visas to Australia for the games.
Background
In April 2018, it emerged that 50 Ghanaians had been deported from Australia after they were deemed to be “non-genuine travelers” posing as journalists for the Commonwealth Games.
According to Australian authorities, although all the affected persons had the necessary accreditation, they were not convinced the reported persons were real journalists.
Many were said to lack basic journalistic tools like smartphones, recorders or cameras and had no idea about the sporting disciplines they were going to cover.
Following this, the government referred the case to the National Security for investigations to begin.
The Minority in Parliament, however, rejected this move, insisting that the scandal be probed by an independent commission of enquiry under article 278 of the Constitution of Ghana.
In the midst of the probe into the scandal, the office of the Deputy Secretary-General of the Ghana Olympic Committee, Rev. Richard Quarcoo, was ransacked.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
