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Mr. Samson Deen, President of the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) -Ghana has said it is not involved in the recent Norway visa scandal, reported recently in the media. There were reports of 11 athletes and officials, who absconded during a competition in Norway in April this year, without participating in the competition.
According to the reports, one was arrested, whilst one other person collapsed and died upon arrival, with rest on the run. A statement from the NPC copied to the GNA Sports said the information was false and maliciously misleading because the said team was not part of the NPC and does not represent the country.
It said, “the attention of the NPC-Ghana has been drawn to a news item and a letter from the National Security captioned ‘Ghana Paralympic Team Absconds upon arrival in Oslo”.
It said, “the NPC-Ghana wishes to seize the opportunity to correct this misinformation and misrepresentation which is making rounds in the media at this moment, wants to set the records straight.
“The NPC-Ghana has not made or caused to be made any application to the Norwegian Embassy to facilitate any paralympic team to travel to Norway, or sponsor a team to participate in any international competition in that country in recent times or in times past in the history of the NPC-Ghana.”
It said the committee was not aware of or had any prior notice of the purported Ghana Paralympic team’s trip to Norway for an international competition as part of their preparations for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Neither the office facilitated nor endorsed the said group’s trip to Norway.
According to the statement, “the members of the purported Ghana Paralympic team were not athletes and officials identified and known by the NPC-Ghana”.
“They do not represent the NPC-Ghana in any capacity and the said athletes are not potentials for this year’s Paralympic Games, let alone travel to Norway as part of preparation towards Paris 2024 Paralympic Games as the letter portrayed.”
The statement said, “between January and July this year, with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, its potential Paralympic athletes from various disciplines were sponsored to compete in a number of qualifiers across Africa and Europe, notably Egypt, Morocco, France, Egypt, and Georgia”.
“All athletes and officials involved in these trips returned to Ghana after their competitions.”
According to the NPC-Ghana, the matter was already in the domain of the country’s security agencies thus National Security, Ghana Police Service and all those individuals involved and behind this illicit act”.
The NPC-Ghana however blamed the Norwegian Embassy for failing to exercise due diligence by not cross-checking the authenticity before processing, approving and eventually issuing the visas to the said team.
The NPC-Ghana assured the public that it is prepared to assist the security agencies in unravelling the truth.
It said, “we continue to discharge our mandate of para-sports development and promotion with unwavering commitment to honesty, instilling confidence in our actions”.
By Rihana Adam, GNA
