- Ghana’s ‘fake journalists caught out by sports questions’
The deportees, although in possession of genuine traveling documents, were arrested and detained after they failed to answer the sports-related questions which they should ordinarily be familiar with.
The country’s Deputy Sports Minister, Pious Enam Hadidze, says an investigation has been opened into the development.
However, he denied the ministry had anything to do with helping them get the visas in the first place – which Africa Live reported earlier
The denial came after one of the deportees told Ghana-based radio station, Atinka FM, that officials of the Ghana Olympics Sports Committee and the Ministry of Sports were paid between $2,000 and $5,000 (£1,400 – £3,550) to have their visas processed as journalists for the Games.
AFP
Ghana’s sports ministry has denied it had anything to do with 50 allegedly fake journalists getting visas for the Commonwealth Games.
Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Pius Enam Hadzide, told news site Graphic it would be launching a probe – but the visas were not awarded by his department.
“We did not sponsor journalists, we didn’t sponsor supporters, we didn’t sponsor anybody to the Commonwealth Games, we didn’t handle accreditation and for international tournaments, the ministry doesn’t handle accreditation,” he told the Ghanaian outlet.
The denial comes after it was reported about 50 people, claiming to be journalists, had arrived in Australia, ostensibly to cover the Commonwealth Games.
The Australian authorities, however, suspected they were not genuine.
Mr Hadidze told Ghana’s StarrFM Online Australian authorities are “not convinced that some of the Ghanaians who purport to go and cover the commonwealth games intend to return to Ghana after the games”.
BBC