Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) has denied accusations that it received $3 million from the Ministry of Youth and Sports as full payment for covering the 13th All African Games.
The state broadcaster dismissed the claim as entirely false and “shocking.”
In a recent interview, the Director General of GBC clarified that the corporation only received $105,000 for its coverage of the games, which took place in Ghana from March 8-23, 2024.
The Sports Ministry had made the claim during a session of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on Monday, August 19.
“GBC was the official broadcaster for the 13th All African Games, and I can confirm that full payment has been made to GBC. I can’t remember the exact amount, but I know that it is in the excess of $3 million,” the Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, told parliament.
But Professor Amin Alhassan said nothing more than $105,000 was paid as a benefit to the GBC for dedicating its channel.
“I think yesterday I was one of those who was shocked to learn that the minister of youth and sports said that they had paid GBC in excess of $3 million and I want to assure every Ghanaian and the public that GBC’s total benefit from the African Games was $105,000 us dollars equivalent.
Nothing more was paid as a benefit to GBC. And that payment was as support for the fact that we dedicated an entire channel 24 hours. We suspended normal programming for the GTV Sports+ and dedicated it to the All African games.
And for our role as the official broadcaster. that is what the GBC was paid and not in excess of $3 million,” he responded.
Prof Alhassan further explained that the amount was used to offset the corporation’s opportunity cost.
“When you suspend a channel’s normal programming, there is an opportunity cost, so it’s used to offset the cost of the channel not doing regular programming. So there is a loss of business.
So it’s important to point out that when you take an entire channel 24 hours for two weeks, it comes at a cost, and that was what the money was for. So it was for our revenue. $105,000 and not in excess of 3 million dollars.”