Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Adams has assured that the 26 winners of the second World Cup Bonanza Raffle who failed to secure visas to travel to the United States will be compensated.
He said the government was working on a compensation package for the affected winners, adding that funds raised through the raffle remained untouched and were still being held by the fundraising committee.
Speaking to the media in Parliament on Thursday, November 5, amid growing controversy over the World Cup fundraising exercise, Kofi Adams disclosed that only five of the 31 winners of the second raffle had successfully secured US visas.
The Sports Minister explained that an initial group of between seven and 10 winners had their travel documents processed following a meeting with the organisers. However, the remaining 26 were unable to obtain visas to make the trip.
Kofi Adams insisted that the money raised through the second raffle, organised by Mpuntu, had not been spent and was being kept specifically to ensure that all affected winners received appropriate compensation.
“Every pesewa of the raffle that was run by Mpuntu has not been touched. That money has not been touched. The fundraising committee is still holding on to those funds to make sure that everybody is appropriately compensated,” he said.
The minister also dismissed allegations by the NPP Minority in Parliament concerning the use of foreign telephone numbers in the fundraising exercise, describing them as false.
“If the NPP Minority in Parliament is running a story and talking about foreign numbers and what have you, that’s a complete lie,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament has accused the government of extortion and fraud over the World Cup Bonanza Raffle, calling for a special audit into the organisation, financial arrangements and management of the promotion.
According to the caucus, about 220 participants entered the first raffle, hoping to win fully funded trips to the United States and Canada for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but were left uncertain about their money following the cancellation of the promotion.
They also questioned the handling of a second raffle, alleging that winners were given only 95 minutes to submit their travel documents to a contact in Mali, with a warning that failure to meet the deadline would result in the forfeiture of their prizes.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, November 5, the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, demanded clarification on whether participants in the first raffle had received full refunds.
He stated, “They boycotted the first raffle after they had taken money from the Ghanaian people. So, if you are a street hawker and you believed in this process and staked a lottery of about GH¢10,000, each stake constituting GH¢10, then the government will say we have cancelled it, without refunding their monies to them”.
He further questioned whether winners of the first raffle had been refunded or travelled to the tournament.
“The big question that we should be asking is: who were the lucky winners for the first raffle? Were their monies refunded? Were they taken to the US or Canada? Were all the monies from the Ghanaian people refunded to them, whether they won or not? How many winners actually travelled? What happened to the rest?” he asked.
The Minority is demanding the publication of the financial arrangements behind the advertised prizes, including raffle ticket sales, prize funds, goodwill transfers and revenues paid into Ghana’s Sports Fund.
They also want clarification on whether the National Lottery Authority (NLA) licensed or partnered in the promotion, details of the contract awarded to its operators and the identities of those behind the website ghworldcupraffle.com.
@ghnow_ Hon. Vincent Ekow Assafuah questions the motive behind using a Malian WhatsApp number to communicate with winners of the World Cup Bonanza raffle draw. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ Hon. Vincent Ekow Assafuah calls for transparency and accountability in the World Cup Bonanza raffle draw. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
