Sports Minister Kofi Adams appeared before Parliament’s Sports Committee this week as it continued its inquiry into expenditure and the report on the 2023 African Games, a probe that has increasingly turned its focus to questionable claims for payment lodged by service providers who worked on the Accra-hosted tournament.
Adams told the committee that the vetting process undertaken by the ministry had already produced striking results, with some service providers coming forward on their own to disclose that payments prepared in their favour, and effectively cleared for settlement, were claims they were not entitled to in the first place.
The Minister’s disclosure came as committee members pressed him on separate reports that a company was owed a substantial judgment debt arising from the Games. The exchange grew tense when a member of the committee raised the name JDK Services in connection with the outstanding claims, prompting Adams to push back sharply on any suggestion that he was making allegations against a specific company.
I’m not making an allegation… What I was saying is very serious.” Kofi Adams, Sports Minister
Pressed further on which companies had specifically approached the ministry to acknowledge they were not owed the sums claimed, Adams maintained that the committee’s line of questioning had moved from the general to the specific, and reiterated the ministry’s working principle for clearing outstanding bills: any claim carrying an unresolved “question mark” would not be paid, while claims the ministry is satisfied are in order would be processed without delay.
Hon. Kofi Adams invoked past precedent to justify the ministry’s caution, referencing the case of officials connected to the “Quality Grow” matter who were tried and jailed after being found to have caused financial loss to the state.
He recalled that the case turned in part on a decision to procure larger vehicles than a stated requirement called for, an example he cited to illustrate how discretionary spending decisions, if not properly justified and documented, can later be characterised as financial loss to the state.
I don’t want to fall into that situation. So you must make sure that you go through every process and have yourself satisfied, including the legal processes, before you effect the payment. And that is what we are going to do. It doesn’t matter who is involved.” Kofi Adams, Sports Minister
The Minister’s appearance is the latest in a series of engagements between the ministry and Parliament over the cost of staging the 13th African Games, which had already drawn scrutiny from both sides of the House over the scale of spending relative to the outcomes delivered.
Adams gave no indication of a timeline for concluding the ministry’s review of outstanding claims but signalled that further payments would depend on each case clearing the ministry’s internal and legal checks.