Ghana’s Deputy Sports Minister suspended over Commonwealth Games deportation.

By Papisdaff Abdullah

Pius Enam Hadzide

President of the Republic of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has suspended from office, the Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Pius Enam Hadzide and the acting Director General of the National Sports Authority, Robert Sarfo Mensah with immediate effect.

A statement by Communications Director at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin stated that the decision has been taken following preliminary investigations conducted into the circumstances that led to the arrest of some sixty (60) Ghanaians, who had allegedly attempted to enter Australia by false pretenses, in the on-going 21st Commonwealth Games.

The President of the Ghana Olympic Committee, Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah; the Board Chairman of the National Sports Authority, Hon. Kwadwo Baah Agyeman; and the Chef-de-Maison for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Mr Mohammed Sahnoon, have also been recalled from the Games to assist in investigations currently being undertaken by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.

This comes after 60 Ghanaians who were in Australia for the commonwealth games were detained and deported for acting as journalists.

According to Australian authorities, they were not convinced by the reasons given by those so-called journalists for traveling to the country.

Even though those deported had genuine visas, many didn’t carry equipment like recorders and recommended mobile phones for coverage.