Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) Director-General, Professor Amin Alhassan, has stated that the state broadcast company got a $105,000 “benefit” to cover the 13th African Games.
The multi-sport competition was held in Accra from March 8 to March 23 with the Legon Stadium and Borteyman Sports Complex hosting a bulk of the events.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, stated that GBC was paid in excess of $3 million to cover the 13th African Games when he appeared before a Public Accounts Committee sitting.
In response to a question over debts owed technical staff of GBC by Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George, Honourable Mustapha Ussif mentioned the above stated figure.
However, Professor Alhassan has stated in an interview on Uniiq FM that GBC benefitted from a financial package no where close to the amount the Sports Minister stated to the Public Accounts Committee as support for dedicating an entire channel to cover the African Games.
“I was one of those who were shocked to learn that the Minister of Youth and Sports said that they had paid GBC in excess of $3million 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 was 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 GBS Sports Plus and we dedicated it to the African Games and for our role as the official broadcaster.”
[8/20, 9:37 PM] Samuel Enyan- Riquelme: Citi Sports Online
A GBC Technician covering the African Games collapsed because there was no food- Sam George
Yaw Adjei-Mintah by Yaw Adjei-Mintah August 20, 2024 Reading Time: 1 min read
Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram Constituency and member of a Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Sam Nartey George, has bemoaned the poor treatment of some Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) staff that covered the 13th African Games in Accra.
The multisport competition took place in Accra from March 8 to March 23 with Ghana winning a record 69 gold medal haul but the aftermath of the competition has been shrouded in controversy.
Honourable Sam George cried out against the mistreatment of the GBC staff who worked on the event in an interview on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News where he criticized GBC Director-General Professor Amin Alhassan over his handling of contract issues in relation to the coverage of the competition.
“I have in my possession,…memos from the workers union of GBC threatening to put down their tools and stop the broadcast midway through the African Games because of the fact that they had not been given remuneration. In fact, at a point in time, one of the technicians of the GBC collapsed on the site because there was no food, there was no water, they had worked from morning. I have his name, I will put it out.”
“I have copies of the minutes of the meeting between the Director General Professor Amin Alhassan and management and the leadership of the workers union intervening and begging the workers not to stop the broadcast.”
Scroll down to watch full interview.
Source: Citisportsonline.com