Joker! You would be rotting in jail by now “if Ghana was a proper country” – Kankam Boadu fumes at NSA Boss

Ace sports journalist Bright Kankam Boadu has asserted that the Director-General of the National Sports Authority, Professor Peter Twumasi, would face imprisonment if the government were truly committed to combating corruption and the misuse of public funds.

Kankam Boadu made these remarks during an interview on Pure FM, where he criticised Professor Twumasi for incompetence and financial mismanagement.

He stated that both Professor Twumasi and Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif lack a clear plan or vision for sports development, implying that their leadership is ineffective and unreliable.

“He is the biggest joker. If Ghana was a proper country, he would be in jail by now. Professor Twumasi would be in prison if we were a serious country. To date, we still cannot find the pick-up vehicle. That man has nothing to offer. He and the sports minister have nothing good to offer Ghanaians.”.

Professor Twumasi faced criticism following his testimony before the Public Accounts Committee, where he was reprimanded by the committee chairman for disregarding directives from the Minister of Youth and Sports.

The chairman raised concerns about the transfer status of Tieku Alexander, the Central Regional Director of the NSA, who was supposed to relocate from Cape Coast to the Eastern Region but failed to comply.

In response, Minister Mustapha Ussif explained that he ordered Tieku’s transfer after the latter refused to grant access to a team assigned to repair the stadium grass in Cape Coast.

“I got an expert pitch maintenance officer, and then I made a recommendation to the director general that the director general should ensure that once that Independence Day celebration is done, we get more hands in addition to the original people who are maintaining the pitch so that we can put the pitch in shape for the match to be able to take place,” the minister told the committee.

He stated that the pitch maintenance expert from Right to Dream Academy arrived at Cape Coast to carry out his duty but was denied access by the regional director despite his intervention in the matter.

“The young man came to Cape Coast and when he went to the regional director, the regional director said that he had not received instructions from the director general and because of that, he wouldn’t allow the man to go there.

“Then I personally called him, and I said, Listen, I am the Minister for Sports. I directed the director general to get this young man to help those who are already working there because I’ve identified him as a very good person.

“Then I called the director general to say I had called your regional director. the young man is there, so make sure that he gives him access to support them and put the place in shape because in the next two weeks we will be playing a match.

“All the instructions I gave, they did not take those instructions. Then it became a very big problem and we had to reschedule the match to Kumasi,” he said.

The minister explained that he later called for a meeting where he issued the instructions for Mr Tieku’s transfer in response to the “disrespect” of disobeying his instructions.

“I gave instructions and those instructions were not taken,” he added.

Mr. Tieku defended himself by pointing out a discrepancy in the transfer letter he received. While the heading indicated a transfer to the head office, the body of the letter stated relocation to the Eastern Region. He sought clarification from the director general, who instructed him to remain in Cape Coast.

Although Mr. Tieku acknowledged signing the transfer letter, Professor Twumasi informed the committee that he instructed the regional director to stay in Cape Coast due to upcoming matches scheduled to be played there.

“I asked him to support the home matches that we were playing there because it was very critical. We needed to honour those home matches and at the time it required a lot of attention and somebody very much experienced until we rectified the issue that he raised,” he justified.

Mr. Twumasi characterised the situation as a complete misunderstanding rather than a matter of disrespect towards the minister.

Following further questioning of the NSA director general, the committee chairman concluded that, despite issuing Mr. Tieku’s transfer letter, Prof. Twumasi had bypassed the minister’s instructions. He had instructed the regional director to remain on Cape Coast.

“You are not actually respecting the minister at all; you are actually undermining the minister. It is not good. No, Mr Twumasi it is not good,” the chairman said.

While noting the similar occurrences with Mr Twumasi’s appearances before the committee, the chairman directed that Mr Tieku move to the Eastern Region with immediate effect in fulfilment of the transfer letter.