The kits for Team Ghana have been held up at the port due to unpaid duties of approximately GHc 110,000.00. The President of the Ghana Olympic Committee, Ben Nunoo Mensah, is appealing to the Government of Ghana, specifically the Hon. Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, to assist in facilitating the clearance of their goods at the port.
In an interview with Channel One TV, the GOC president Ben Nunoo Mensah indicated that the kits need to be cleared on latest by Monday or Tuesday.
“The kits for Team Ghana are currently at the port, and we have been requested to pay the duties before we can collect them and then distribute them to the athletes. These athletes are going to compete for Ghana, and the ministry has requested us to write a letter and request an exemption from duties”.
“I believe that the letter is currently with the Deputy Finance Minister, and I want to use your platform to appeal to her that if we don’t receive the goods by Monday or Tuesday, it will be detrimental to Team Ghana. So, I hope that by Monday, she will have given instructions on that, and we can go and clear the goods and then distribute them to our athletes and officials bound for Paris”.
He stated that the GOC will foot the bill of Team Ghana’s pre-games training, which is around 35,000 Euros.
“The GOC has sent a budget for the pre games and the competition itself. The budget for the pre games is around 35,000 euros, and the GOC has informed the ministry that we will cover that budget ourselves because we are receiving funding from the French embassy for the pre games. I will also instruct the accountant to contact the IOC and request the pre games subsidy”.
“So, if we are able to secure all this funding, then the GOC will have enough money on its own to take care of the pre-games training, excluding air tickets and per diems for the athletes, which we have made clear to the Ministry”.
Team Ghana will leave for the pre-games training in Strasbourg on the 7th of July 2024. The team will report to the Games village on the 21st of July 2024.
The Paris Olympic Games will start on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, and will end on Sunday, August 11, 2024.
