Ben Nunoo Mensah
Ghana Weightlifting Federation (GWF) president Ben Nunoo Mensah has revealed that one of the virtues that can take Ghana Sports to greater heights is accountability.
His strict adherence to openness and transparency in the face of the alleged crooked leadership of the current Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) led to his resignation as its treasurer months after his elections into office.
Last week, the various Federations heads met for General Assembly in Accra which resulted in a heated argument regarding the date for Congress, which they later agreed on March 15.
He cited his resignation, which has created a vacuum in the accounting department as a classical example to allow the current administration some time to put their house in order.
He said in an interview that “All these while that I resigned, the Board hasn’t taken steps for replacement. If there is no accountant, how do you render proper account?
“We need to look into how things are done, if we don’t give them the time to prepare their accounts well, the account would be messy and we can’t do a forensic audit in future.”
“They should be held accountable; I have pleaded with my colleagues to give the GOC time to put their house in order so we won’t be embarrassed on Congress day. It was a compromise decision we took.”
He pointed out that If people in authority are held accountable, Ghana will be a better place to be, saying “People should be accountable, that is what is killing Ghana, so long as I remain a member of GOC, accountability, transparency will be the key word.”
“I have taken it upon myself that I will push for accountability and make sure that whatever has been spent is spent well, genuinely and transparently and there will be no corruption, and this country will move forward.”
He wondered why the Professor Francis Dodoo-led administration have not invited his predecessor (BT Baba) for accountability, if they (Current administration) claimed the latter misappropriated its financial records.
The Weightlifting boss gave the assurance that unlike the last election which was marred by dubious practices, this year’s would be clean due to the GOC secretariat’s non involvement in the electoral process.
He added that “There will be no government interference in the forthcoming election, we don’t want that, if that happens IOC will clamp down on us again.”
“We don’t want our sports to be partisan, sports unites. Steps have been taken to ensure a clean GOC elections.”
By Kofi Owusu Aduonum