The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has firmly clarified that the Ministry was not involved in securing visas for a group falsely claiming to be Ghana's Paralympics team for a marathon event in Oslo, Norway.
11 individuals secured visas from the Norwegian Embassy in Accra to participate in the Fjordkraft Bergen City Marathon on April 27 this year.
However, it appeared the members did not intend to participate in the competition, with one member, Nana Antwi, caught attempting to leave Norway for Sweden with a one-way train ticket.
Meanwhile, coach George Gyamfi Gyasi collapsed and subsequently passed away after being admitted to Oslo University Hospital.
"In this Norway case, no request was made to the Ghana Paralympic Committee nor the National Sports Authority to be forwarded to the Ministry of Youth and Sports,” Ussif said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
“We were unaware of any event, and the team that went did not represent the Ghana Paralympic Team as was widely reported. Normally, we don't issue letters to embassies; we write to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to handle it on our behalf. For the record, this fabricated Paralympic team did not represent our country."
The National Paralympic Committee has indefinitely suspended Mr Theodore Mawuli Viwotor, Mr Yaw Ayisi, and the Ernestay Foundation for their alleged involvement in the incident.
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