The Executive Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 2023 African Games, Dr Kwaku Ofosu-Asare, says the committee was not responsible for procurement for the Games.
His comments follow a Ghana Audit Service forensic audit which flagged financial irregularities and procurement breaches amounting to more than GH¢580 million in connection with the 13th African Games.
Appearing before Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee, Dr Ofosu-Asare said procurement processes were handled by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, while the LOC focused on administrative responsibilities.
“Mr Chairman, I wasn’t in control. The ministry was in control. The ministry facilitated a lot of these things. I was the administrative head of the LOC and I facilitated a lot of the administrative things and everything I wanted, everything the LOC wanted went through the Ministry of Youth and Sports at that time,” he said.
Dr Ofosu-Asare maintained that the LOC did not have control over the procurement process and that its activities were facilitated through the ministry.
The forensic audit into the 2023 African Games identified a series of financial and procurement-related issues, prompting further scrutiny of how funds for the Games were managed.
The African Games were held in Ghana in March 2024 after being postponed from 2023, with Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast serving as host cities.
