The Deputy General Secretary for Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) Rev Richmond Quacoo has called on government to take a bold decision immediately to punish whoever was involved in the Australia visa racketeering scandal, a situation he deemed will dent the image of Ghana and the GOC if the culprits involved are let to go free.
“If it turns out that the GOC or other personalities have compromised the situation, we need to punishment them because this issue is very embarrassing to the nation,” Mr Quarcoo told Happy FM.
“The Australian government is doing serious investigation into this matter, and a matter that will pull a whole state to do investigation is serious and it’s destroying our nation, so if it turns out there are individuals within the GOC or a personality, we don’t have to entertain such things because it will destroy the image of the GOC. The Ghana Olympic Committee is not a private owned company, its brand must be protected,” he fumed.
“And remember GOC is not an individual property, it’s not about Ben Nunoo Mensah or Rev Richmond Quacoo’s property. It doesn’t belong to anybody so we need to protect the name of GOC because if we destroy the name, how can we attract sponsors?
“People will look at us with a certain eye and so for us [GOC], after the investigation and we find out that there were individuals within the GOC who contributed to this problem, they should be punished to serve as deterrent to everyone who gets power not .”
In the wake of this visa scandal three government appointee have been suspended by the president following preliminary investigations conducted into the circumstances that led to the arrest of some sixty (60) Ghanaians, who had allegedly attempted to enter Australia by false pretenses, at the 21st Commonwealth Games.
By: Emmanuel Asante