Story Highlights
- Sports Minister Kofi Adams accused Tribe Culture Fest CEO Nana Boateng Gyimah of supplying false information behind visa-fraud allegations led by Old Tafo MP Vincent Ekow Assafuah.
- Adams alleged the CEO illegally collected about $511,000 under a deal with the National Sports Authority to transport Ghanaians to the 2026 World Cup.
- The minister said a US Embassy query about four people presented as NSA staff predates, and is separate from, the disputed list of 90 names.
- He said about 1,023 visa applications were processed, with 441 visas issued.
- Gyimah’s response to the accusations was not included in the minister’s account, and the link between the money and the visa list has not been independently established.
Ghana’s Minister for Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams, has accused the chief executive of Tribe Culture Fest, Nana Boateng Gyimah, of orchestrating visa-fraud allegations against him and other government officials.
Speaking in a TV3 interview on October 11, 2026, Mr. Adams said Mr. Gyimah had been passing false information to Vincent Ekow Assafuah, the Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, who has led the allegations.
The minister claimed the aim was to divert attention from money the CEO is supposed to refund, according to a GhanaWeb report.
How the Scandal Began
The controversy dates to mid-September. Mr. Assafuah, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee, alleged that NSA Director-General Yaw Ampofo-Ankrah was involved in a $623,000 visa scheme, with the NSA accused of collecting the money from members of the public in exchange for facilitating World Cup visas.
He further alleged that some applicants were presented as NSA staff, and that while Canadian authorities issued visas without verifying the names, US officials contacted Adams to confirm the individuals’ identities.
According to the Minority, the arrangement began after Tribe Culture Fest was introduced to the NSA and the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) in connection with Ghana’s World Cup activities.
Tribe was to handle visa processing, accommodation and logistics at a documented cost of $3,000 per person for US visas and $2,000 for Canadian visas. The Minority alleges some applicants were charged between $7,000 and $14,000.
The Minority also claims the US Embassy’s Fraud Prevention Unit flagged four applicants in March 2026 and requested proof of employment, while the Canadian Embassy later queried a separate list of 102 people submitted in June, of whom it says only 15 were verifiable NSA staff.
On the GTA side, it alleges 50 people were presented to the US Embassy as media personnel, with only two identified as known media practitioners.
President John Mahama suspended Ampofo Ankrah over the matter. At a press conference in Parliament on October 7, Assafuah called for Adams’ dismissal and prosecution, alleging that a cover letter was prepared to present outsiders as ministry staff.
The Minority wants the minister and the GTA chief executive removed and prosecuted if found culpable
The $511,000 Dispute
The dispute centres on an agreement between Mr. Gyimah’s company and the National Sports Authority (NSA) to transport Ghanaians to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Mr. Adams alleged that the CEO illegally collected about $511,000 under that arrangement. He said the businessman, identified in the interview by the initials SFY, was now pushing narratives into the public domain to cloud the matter and avoid repaying the money.
The minister said the government intended to recover the funds. He added that if investigations showed the public had been deceived from the outset, criminal action should follow.
“He cannot run away with $611,000 of people’s money,” Mr. Adams said.
Mr. Gyimah’s response to the allegations was not part of the minister’s account. No charges have been announced.
A journalist who broke the story later clarified that the amount was $511,000 and not $611,000.
The Four Names Queried by the US Embassy
Mr. Adams also gave his version of communication between the US Embassy and his ministry about four individuals presented as NSA staff.
He said the embassy sought information on the four after a submission made directly by the NSA on March 18, 2026. That submission, he said, came before his ministry’s formal arrangement with the authority began.
According to the minister, he then asked the NSA’s Director-General to confirm whether the four were genuine employees. He requested their staff identification numbers, salary levels, employment dates and duty stations.
The Director-General told him the four were not NSA employees, Mr. Adams said. He then signed a note to the embassy stating that the individuals were unknown to both the ministry and the NSA. He described the document as a verification note rather than a formal letter.
The minister stressed that the four people were part of the earlier submission. They were not, he said, on the list of 90 names now at the centre of the controversy.
Denial Over the List of 90
Mr. Adams rejected claims that people on the 90-name list had been falsely described as NSA staff or board members.
He said the list sent to his ministry described those individuals as event coordinators and facilitation personnel. He added that the embassy had sent no formal communication alleging that anyone on the list was misrepresented.
According to the minister, neither the US Embassy, the NSA nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had formally notified his ministry of irregularities involving the 90 names.
He argued that claims circulating publicly appeared to merge details from separate submissions. That, he said, made it necessary to distinguish the four-name verification request from the list of 90.
1,023 Applications, 441 Visas
Mr. Adams also gave figures on the wider visa process for the World Cup.
He said about 1,023 applications were processed across several categories, including A and B1/B2 visas. Of those, 441 applicants received visas.
The minister described his ministry’s role as facilitation. It submitted names, he said, while applicants completed their own forms and attended their own visa appointments.
He noted that some ministry officials with established employment records, including salaries and payslips, were also refused visas. A refusal, he argued, did not necessarily indicate that an applicant had been misrepresented.
Mr. Adams maintained that the decision on who received a visa rested with the embassy, not the ministry.
Questions That Remain
The controversy has raised questions about who was included on the disputed list, how those individuals were described, and how the alleged $611,000 was collected.
Mr. Adams has cited the earlier embassy verification request as evidence that his ministry acted properly when questions arose. However, the precise connection between the alleged financial dealings and the visa arrangements has not been independently established.
The US Embassy has not publicly commented on the minister’s account. Assafuah, who has led the allegations, had not responded to the minister’s latest claims at the time of the report.
This article was edited with AI and reviewed by human editors
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