GRi Sports Ghana 15 - 03 - 2001
Sports Minister's appointment revoked
Soccer- Hearts maul AS Douanes
Sports Minister's appointment revoked
The President, Mr. J. A. Kufuor has revoked the appointment of Mallam Yusif Issa as Minister of Youth and Sports.
A statement from the Office of the President signed by Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of State responsible for media relations said that the President had hoped to allow Mallam Issa to leave office with some dignity, explaining why he persuaded him to resign on Wednesday.
"Having agreed to the text of the announcement of the resignation and having since then gone on the airwaves to claim he had not resigned, Mallam Issa has left the President with no choice but to revoke his appointment", the statement said.
The President had, in meetings with Mallam Issa, impressed upon him he was dissatisfied with his handling of the events surrounding the loss of public funds entrusted to his custody said to amount to $46,000 during his trip to Sudan.
"Whilst not accusing the Mallam of having taken the money, the President was of the view he had displayed a fundamental lack of judgement in the events leading to the loss and particularly his handling of the situation since then. The President was particularly dismayed that a full two weeks after the incident, Mallam Issa had not reported the loss to him and considered this irresponsible behaviour unbecoming of a Minister of State."
The President has directed that an immediate probe be instituted into the loss of the money and a wider investigation into the activities of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ghana Football Authority.
A statement signed by Ms Ohene on Wednesday said Mallam Issah had resigned over the missing amount to save himself and the government from embarrassment but the dismissed minister was on Thursday morning on Radio Univers, an Accra private radio station, to deny that he had resigned saying he was not going to do so until the scandal is probed.
$45,000 being winning bonus for the Black Stars was discovered missing when the minister's missing suitcase with which the he was traveling to Sudan and bearing the amount arrived 30 minutes before departure from the north African country without the money.
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Soccer- Hearts maul AS Douanes
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 March 2001
Champion Club, Accra Hearts of Oaks beat AS Douanes of Togo 4-1 in a pre-season international friendly match played at the Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday.
The match which saw both teams creating numerous chances, had Hearts going ahead as early as the third minute when their Ivorian import, Kwadio Donatien, sneaked through the Togolesse offside trap to beat Pesse Essouonna in post.
Hearts, playing with a virtually new team, fielding as many as nine new recruits, allowed their Togolesse counterparts a greater share of the game but the visitors could not convert any of the chances that fell to them as they showed a lot of naivety in front of goal.
Hearts doubled the lead in the 30th minute with a beautiful glancing header by Osei Kofi who connected a cross from Donatien to the far corner of the net.
In the 43rd minute, Douane reduced the tally when a bemused back line of Hearts stood still expecting an off side decision from the referee thereby allowing unmarked Atsu Gagnon to move into the penalty box unmarked to flick the ball beyond Eben Dida in post.
The second half which was not as keenly contested as the first saw Bernard Don Bortey, Osei Kofi and Mathew Atiogbe wasting chance after chance as complacency set in with every player wanting to score.
Osei Kofi put the game beyond the reach of the Togolesse when he scored his personal second and Hearts' third in the 65th minute after former Kotoko striker Clovis Kambou put him through.
With the match drawing to a close, substitute George Eranio scored the fourth goal in the 87th with a well directed header beyond Essouonna from a Stephen Owusu pinpoint cross.
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