The Member of Parliament for Old Tafo and Ranking Member of Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee, Hon. Vincent Ekow Assafuah, has revealed that winners of the second Ghana 2026 FIFA World Cup Raffle were asked to send their scanned passports to a foreign WhatsApp number within 95 minutes or forfeit their prize.
Addressing the press in Parliament, Hon. Assafuah said after Ghanaians spent millions on the raffle by dialing *899## and paying GHC 10 per ticket, as well as through the website GhanaWorldCupRaffle.com with adverts on GTV Sports, winners were eventually announced, but what followed was shocking.
He revealed, “When the winners were announced, they were given a WhatsApp number to send their scanned passports and that WhatsApp number is not a Ghanaian number. It is rather a Malian number, +223, and this is a number that was used to solicit passports from Ghanaians,” adding, “So you have won a raffle. You have been given a WhatsApp number that is not even a Ghanaian number. And you have been told that within 95 minutes you have to provide your document or you forfeit the win.”
Hon. Assafuah disclosed that the second raffle was launched by the Minister for Sports and Recreation and the Deputy Minister for Finance who is the Chairman of the World Cup Fundraising Committee, promising fully sponsored trips to the tournament, after the first raffle was cancelled without refunding monies to participants.
Stating that “They are done with the first raffle. They cancelled it without refunding their monies to them. They go ahead to launch a second raffle. Ghanaians also believed it because there has been a presidential fingerprint,” he questioned where the monies of Ghanaians were channeled to and whether winners went to the US or Canada, noting he has exhibits including the WhatsApp numbers to prove his claims. He demanded that government account for the 2,922 match tickets bought with public funds, stating, “We also want them to publish the Bonanza’s ticket sales, prize fund, and good causes transfers, and the government raffle’s revenue and any surplus paid into the Ghana Sports Fund. If prizes were delivered, show evidence. If not, tell us why and who chopped the money.” Calling for prompt compensation to Ghanaians who trusted government and were deceived, he stated, “Ghanaians are watching. We call on the Auditor-General to conduct a special audit of both raffles – that is the 4th November raffle and the 18th March 2026 raffle – and the World Cup Fund.”
He further urged Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee to take evidence on the raffles alongside its inquiry into the visa scandal, and called on the Data Protection Commission to investigate how winners’ passports and personal data were collected, stored and shared.
However, the Minister for Sports and Recreation, Hon. Kofi Adams, has dismissed claims by the Minority in Parliament that government defrauded Ghanaians through the Ghana 2026 FIFA World Cup Raffle, describing the allegations raised by Hon. Vincent Ekow Assafuah as false.
Speaking on the controversy, Hon. Adams disclosed that he superintended over a meeting where it was resolved that all monies staked by participants in the first raffle would be refunded, explaining, “Every pesewa was refunded to all the stakers including the winners. At that meeting we agreed that for those who have won who have had their monies refunded to them they should resubmit those monies to Rumble as if they are still participating in the raffle so that Rumble will process their documents for them.”
He noted that feedback indicated almost all winners disagreed with that arrangement and preferred the refund.
On the second raffle, the Sports Minister clarified that there were about 31 winners and all were processed for US visas.
“All these winners were processed. Five were successful. Five secured visas out of the thirty-one. The rest were either refused, in other words denied visas, or their dates that they got was outside of the period of the World Cup,” Hon. Adams stated.
He explained that government made an alternate arrangement for those refused visas or whose interview dates fell outside the tournament period, saying, “The alternate arrangement for those who were even refused and those who did not get dates to appear for visa interview was that any future competition they will be given the opportunity to attend. The immediate one was for Morocco. They were contacted and many of them indicated that because they sought permission to go for the World Cup and they didn’t go, going to Morocco was such a short time for them and so they prefer a future opportunity not the immediate one.”
Hon. Adams added that another option of financial compensation was subsequently offered, noting, “Some opted for that and as we speak the remainder of the winners who did not get opportunity to go for the World Cup, we are in a process of working that out and for them to get a financial reward.”
Stressing that not a pesewa of the raffle proceeds has been touched, Hon. Kofi Adams emphasised, “Every pesewa of the raffle that was run has not been touched. That money has not been touched. The fundraising committee is still holding onto those funds to make sure that everybody is appropriately compensated. So if the NPP Minority in Parliament is running a story and talking about foreign numbers, that’s a complete lie.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
