The Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Prof. Amin Alhassan, has strongly refuted claims made by the Sports Ministry that GBC received over $3 million for its coverage of the recently concluded 13th African Games.
The controversy arose during a Public Accounts Committee session on Monday, August 19, where Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif stated that the state broadcaster had been paid more than $3 million.
This statement was in response to concerns raised by Committee member Sam George about unpaid debts to the technical staff who worked on the games.
However, Prof. Alhassan, speaking on GBC, denied the claims, clarifying that the broadcaster received only $105,000, which was intended to support GBC’s decision to dedicate an entire channel to the African Games, suspending normal programming on GTV Sports Plus.
“Yesterday, I was one of those who were shocked to learn that the Minister of Youth and Sports said they have paid GBC in excess of $3 million. I want to assure every Ghanaian that GBC’s total benefit from the African Games was $105,000, nothing more was paid as a benefit to GBC,” Prof. Alhassan remarked.
He further explained, “That payment of $105,000 was in support of the fact that we dedicated an entire channel for 24 hours. We suspended normal programming on GTV Sports Plus and dedicated it to the African Games as the official broadcaster.”
Prof. Alhassan’s clarification comes amid growing concerns over the financial handling of the African Games coverage, especially regarding the unpaid technical staff who contributed to the event’s broadcast.
