Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Adams has revealed that only five of the 31 winners of a second raffle organised to support Ghanaian fans' travel to the 2026 FIFA World Cup secured US visas.
The minister says the government is working on a compensation package for the remaining winners who failed to secure visas and could not travel.
Speaking on the World Cup fundraising controversy, Adams explained that an initial group of seven to ten raffle winners had their travel documents processed following a meeting with the organisers.
He said the group had already received refunds but was later asked to return the money to Rambell to continue with the original travel plans. However, almost all of them rejected the request and chose to keep their refunds.
Adams further disclosed that a second raffle organised by Mpuntu produced 31 winners. Although travel documents were processed for all of them, only five managed to secure US visas.
He insisted that the money raised through the second raffle had not been spent and remained with the fundraising committee for compensation.
“Every pesewa of the raffle that was run by Mpuntu has not been touched. That money has not been touched. The fundraising committee is still holding on to those funds to make sure that everybody is appropriately compensated,” he said.
The minister also rejected claims by the NPP Minority in Parliament that foreign telephone numbers were used in the fundraising exercise, describing the allegations as false.
“If the NPP Minority in Parliament is running a story and talking about foreign numbers and what have you, that’s a complete lie,” he added.
By: Pascal Amoah
