Ghana Paralympic Games officials suspended for visa fraud related to fugitive athletes

Ghana’s National Paralympic Committee (NPC) has suspended two officials indefinitely in connection with a visa fraud scandal involving alleged Paralympic athletes travelling to Norway.

The bans were imposed on Theodore Mawuli Viwotor, former secretary general of the Ghana Amputee Football Association, and Yaw Ayisi, founder of the Ernestay Foundation, on suspicion of forging documents to obtain visas for people who failed to register for a competition in Norway last April.

According to reports, 11 para-athletes and officials who had travelled to Norway did not attend the event as expected. Norwegian authorities then alerted Schengen states and Western diplomatic missions and initiated efforts to repatriate the individuals concerned.

The scandal escalated even further when the team’s coach, George Gyamfi Gyasi, died on May 17, 2024 while hospitalized at Oslo University Hospital.

Reacting to the findings, Minister of National Security Albert Kan-Dapah stressed the seriousness of the situation, pointing to the falsification of official documents and the unauthorized actions of the suspended officials.

The NPC, led by Samson Deen, plans to issue a comprehensive statement after investigating the incident. The aim of the statement is to address the wider impact and ensure transparency in the future.