Auditor-General exposes GH₵580 million irregularities at the 13th African Games - Full breakdown

The Ghana Audit Service's comprehensive audit of the 13th African Games, Accra 2023 — submitted to Parliament on 26 February 2026 — has uncovered total financial irregularities of GH₵580,042,347.40, a staggering catalogue of inflated contracts, procurement violations, undelivered goods, defective infrastructure, and cash payments that bypassed the government's own financial controls.

The three officials most repeatedly named for sanction and recovery are former Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif, former Chief Director William Kartey, and LOC Chairman Dr Kwaku Ofosu-Asare.

Ghana won the right to host the 13th African Games in October 2018 at a meeting of the African Union Commission in Algiers. It was the first time Ghana had hosted the Games — a continental multi-sport competition organised every four years by the African Union to promote high-performance sport, cultural exchange, and continental unity.

Parliament approved the hosting agreement in July 2021, alongside a US$170 million loan from CalBank Ghana Limited to finance sports infrastructure and residential facilities. A separate commercial agreement of US$145,086,057.54 was approved with Contracta Construction UK Limited for the construction of those facilities. The Games were conceived not merely as a sporting event but, in the report's own words, as "a strategic national development intervention" – a chance to reposition Ghana as a major sporting hub on the continent.

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Total funds received and spent on the games came to GH₵2,245,515,037.44. Despite that, a recorded liability of GH₵208,583,739.49 remained outstanding as of the date of the report.

What the auditors found when they examined how that money was spent is the subject of a 700-page report submitted to Parliament by Auditor-General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu.

The audit revealed 15 categories of financial irregularity totalling GH₵580,042,347.40 (equivalent to approximately US$44.9 million and EUR 572,040 at stated conversion rates). These range from inflated catering contracts and over-priced vehicle hire to payments for undelivered sports equipment and massive rescoping of infrastructure contracts.

A separate table of administrative irregularities adds further concern — including GH₵336,626,436.68 in contracts structured as fixed lump sums for services that were inherently variable in nature and GH₵150,618,720.83 in contracts awarded to companies sharing a common beneficial owner.

The Auditor-General recommends recovery of identified sums and sanctions against the three named officials under Section 92 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as amended, across nearly every finding.

The catering contract submitted by L&M included non-feeding cost components of US$2,826,540, embedding Transport & Logistics (US$86,950), Utilities (US$541,800), Infrastructure & Equipment (US$1,285,000), Staffing (US$573,450), and Project Management & Administration (US$339,340) within what was supposed to be a catering contract. These costs had no supporting schedules, cost build-ups, or independent verification — and directly overlapped with services already contracted to other providers. The full amount is flagged as unjustified and recommended for recovery from Ussif, Kartey and Ofosu-Asare.

The ministry contracted Omni Speciality Product Limited at EUR 739,225.98 for a package of anti-doping tests. Benchmarking against rates at the WADA-accredited Cologne Laboratory showed Omni's unit prices significantly exceeded prevailing market rates. The price variance amounts to EUR 572,040 — equivalent to GH₵8,008,560. The report recommends full recovery.

JDK Travel & Tours charged US$150 per room per night for 500 rooms (250 Standard, 250 Executive) over 21 days, totalling US$1,575,000. Market verification showed that the average official hotel rate for the listed hotels ranged between US$50 and US$70 per room — a benchmark total of approximately US$735,000. The inflated component amounts to US$840,000 (GH₵10,080,000). The same company, the audit found, was not even qualified to provide accommodation services — JDK is registered as a travel and tour entity without accommodation licensing and operated as an intermediary. Two of the listed hotels could not be independently verified.

Two separate findings relate to sports equipment. In the first, a comparative price assessment against African Sports Confederation market benchmarks revealed overpricing of US$322,697.28 (GH₵3,872,367.36) across hockey, boxing, arm wrestling, and triathlon equipment. Boxing equipment alone was contracted at US$109,828.35 against a benchmark of US$48,834.85; triathlon equipment at US$449,332.68 against US$216,909.00.

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In the second, an audit review of the equipment contract with Delovely Company Ltd confirmed that equipment valued at US$206,044.15 — covering table tennis, badminton, and handball — was never supplied. A further lump-sum item of US$408,054.22 labelled "Sports Equipment" lacked any specifications or supporting documentation. After removing these non-payable items, the revised contract value should have been US$2,620,922.23, resulting in an overpayment of US$374,462.39 (GH₵4,493,548.68).

JDK Travel & Tours invoiced a combined total of GH₵45,667,275.10 under two transportation contracts. Benchmark comparison against market rental rates showed significant inflation across all vehicle categories and usage periods. The total identified overpricing across both contracts amounts to GH₵13,120,226.21. A separate review of one invoice (Invoice No. 57 for GH₵23,082,374.50) found it was bloated by GH₵2,201,514.00 after recomputing verified quantities and usage frequencies.

One of the most striking administrative irregularities concerns three companies — JDK Travel & Tours, Delovely Co. Ltd, and Jorninas Co. Ltd — which auditors identified as sharing a single beneficial owner: Mr John Kwadwo Debrah. Together, these companies received contracts totalling GH₵150,618,720.83, spanning transport, vehicles, ticketing, accommodation, equipment, sportswear, and medals. Procurement files showed no evidence of robust market testing or conflict-of-interest disclosures.

The flagship infrastructure project — the Borteyman Sports Complex, built under a US$145,086,057.54 EPC contract with Contracta Construction UK — was subjected to a non-itemised variation order known as the "May Action Plan". This resulted in a net loss of US$34,430,646.52 (23.8%) of the contract value, arising from the omission and reduction of major works: both single- and double-lane access roads ($22.44 million combined), drainage ($3.37 million), the warm-up football field ($3.21 million), the multipurpose hall conversion ($3.06 million), the electrical substation ($850,000), and reductions to CCTV, irrigation, security, sidewalks, and playground facilities.

The differential value lost was absorbed to settle claims for time extensions, tax reimbursements, statutory payments, and delayed invoices. Critically, despite the physical scope contracting dramatically, consultant supervision fees increased from 3% to 3.83% of contract value after the rescoping — the auditors flag this as a direct anomaly.

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At the University of Ghana Stadium, five variations increased the contract from USD 34,120,135.00 to USD 36,997,083.55. Auditors identified avoidable and irregular claims totalling US$2,814,203.30, including interest on delayed payments, prolongation costs arising from a 10-month extension, statutory fee claims, and adjustment costs — all approved outside the standard risk allocation framework of the EPC contract.

At the Legon Sports Village (Athletes' Village), two variation orders increased the contract by US$2,854,142.24, of which US$1,746,332.28 was irregular. This included US$1,175,754.98 for unjustified repainting works — a claim the auditors describe as unreasonable given that painting had already been included as a lump sum in the original contract and that the full hostel facility could not plausibly have deteriorated to require repainting after only a few months.

Physical inspections across all five major games infrastructure projects uncovered widespread construction-phase defects: concrete cold joints, slab cracking, poor compaction, inadequate waterproofing, corrosion of fittings, unsealed penetrations, and drainage failures — at the Aquatic Centre, Legon Stadium, Temporary Kitchen Facilities, and Achimota Pavilion, among others. Post-construction assessments found progressive cracking, material degradation, and latent defects attributable to poor workmanship, inadequate supervision, and insufficient quality assurance.

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The estimated rectification cost is not less than US$1,000,000 (GH₵12,000,000). Critically, interim payment certificates were certified by consultants despite these defects, and critical quality assurance records — test reports, as-builts, non-conformance reports — were missing. Consultant supervision failures alone are valued at GH₵482,524,196.28 in potential exposure.

The broadcasting chapter is damning for Ghana Broadcasting Corporation leadership. GBC incurred USD 3,600,000 in costs to broadcast the games but earned broadcast licence revenue of only US$45,000 — against a projected revenue of US$5 million. Free broadcast access was granted to a major broadcaster without approval. GBC engaged service providers TPR, Silicon House, and Broadstem without formal signed contracts (GH₵3,560,213.52). PPA ratification for GBC's third-party broadcast contracts was sought only after the games ended and approved five months later (GH₵44,351,689.52). GBC staff were extensively deployed on third-party contracts without revenue-sharing arrangements (GH₵40,791,476). A training contract with The Production Room (TPR) for EUR 57,030 was paid 100% in advance with no evidence of training delivery — no schedules, attendance records, training materials, or certifications were found.

A review of the LOC's bank accounts identified payments totalling GH₵15,093,666 for activities entirely unrelated to hosting the Games — including advance salary payments and disbursements to officials and staff of the national football team (Black Stars), including the head coach and assistant coach. These expenditures passed through LOC accounts despite falling outside the approved Games mandate and budget.

Large cash withdrawals were made from the AUSC account without documented purpose or supporting disbursement records. Repeated withdrawals by the same individuals were observed. None of the transactions showed corresponding GIFMIS purchase orders, system vouchers, or EFT confirmations — meaning government financial controls were comprehensively bypassed. US$247,194.46 in participation and accommodation fees received in cash from participating countries was also never fully lodged into the LOC bank account.

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In a finding that strikes at the heart of the procurement framework, the LOC and Ministry single-sourced 55 contracts (3 EPCs and 52 others) totalling approximately GH₵2.7 billion but failed to provide justifications, supplier qualification evidence, or price benchmarking for any of them.

Eight contracts were ratified by the Public Procurement Authority, which noted explicitly that it "reluctantly accepted" them (GH₵18,036,264.19). PPA then reduced nine contract sums by 10% or 5%, yet the Ministry and LOC produced no pricing analysis or negotiation records to document how the reductions were calculated or whether they aligned with the revised scope.

The LOC was mandated to ensure the Games' facilities would be transformed into a university of sport for development — explicitly to prevent the infrastructure from becoming, in the report's words, "white elephants." The Legacy Sub-Committee was dissolved before the Games even ended, having made no documented progress toward this mandate.

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Post-games asset management was poor, handover of sports infrastructure was inadequate, and the current state of games assets gives cause for concern. Ghana also faces outstanding financial obligations under the Host Agreement, raising risks to the country's participation in future African Games.

The Auditor-General has recommended recovery of identified sums and sanctions against Mustapha Ussif (former Minister of Youth and Sports), William Kartey (former Chief Director), and Dr. Kwaku Ofosu-Asare (former LOC Chairman) under Section 92 of the Public Procurement Act — across nearly every finding in the report. GBC Director-General Prof. Amin Alhassan is separately named for sanctions on the broadcasting findings.

Ghana spent GH₵2.245 billion hosting a sporting event it was right to be proud of. Its athletes competed before the continent. Its new stadiums hosted Africa's best. But the Auditor-General has now placed on the public record a systematic failure of financial controls, procurement discipline, and contractual integrity that touched virtually every aspect of the Games — from the food served to athletes, to the roads built to reach the venues, to the television signal that broadcast it all.

The "African Dream" was real. The audit asks Ghana's institutions to ensure the bill for it was too.

Source: Comprehensive Audit of the 13th African Games, Accra 2023. Ghana Audit Service, Report Ref. AG. SAR/2026/03. Auditor-General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu. Submitted to Parliament 26 February 2026. Available at audit.gov.gh