Athletes on their marks! …as athletics roars off today at Paris 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games fans will shift their attention to the tracks at the Stade de France Stadium from today where the kings and queens of athletics showcase their speed, endurance, willpower, and prowess to challenge existing world records to irk their name in gold.
Ghana, a regular since debuting at the 1952 Helsinki Games, has seen its athletes struggle for honours on the tracks till date.
Beginning today, Ghana’s duo of men’s 100-metre record holders, Benjamin KwakuAzamati and Abdul Rasheed Samanu, will start the quest to win for Ghana that elusive medal on the tracks when they line up against the best.
Azamati, who is competing at his second Olympics, will step onto the tracks with the likes of defending Olympic Games gold medalist, Lamont Marcell Jacobs, world championship gold medalist, Noah Lyles, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, Botswana’s LetsileTebogo, Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, and South Africa’s Benjamin Richardson, among others.
Azamati’s fastest time of the season, 10.05 seconds (+1.0 wind), falls outside the top 10 fastest times heading into today’s heats.
However, chieftains of the sport believe that a lot of things go into winning a race, some of which Azamati must get right, including mother luck.
Also on the tracks today will be first-timer, Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, who will be making his Olympic debut in the men’s 200-metre event.
The 22-year-old sprinter from the University of South Florida clocked an impressive 20.12 seconds in the 200 metres at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
Having recently anchored Ghana’s relay team to win gold at the African Athletics Championships in Douala, many believe Saminu will not be overawed by the moment.
Also in action today will be swimmer,Joselle Alice Mensah, who will compete in the women’s 50-metre freestyle in Heat 6.
The quartet of Azamati, Joseph Paul Amoah, Fuseini Ibrahim, and Isaac Botsio will take their turn on the track on August 8 in round one of the 4x100m relay.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem has today revealed in Parliament that special audit has uncovered over payments for transportation of grains in respect of the dry spell expenditure.
According to the Deputy Minister, Under the Farmer Food Relief and Recovery Programme, a transportation company was contracted to transport 134,000 metric tonnes of maize and rice to farmers across the country at a contract sum of GH¢115.2 million.
Even though the company transported only 35,000 metric tonnes which should have costed GH¢30.9 million, the company was paid GH¢50 million.
In addition to this payment, the company was given 7,311 metric tonnes of rice equivalent to 14,622 bags of 50kg rice, which amounts to GH¢11.7 million in lieu of cash for no work done. This brings total payment to GH¢61.7 million.
As a result, the Auditor-General accordingly rejected an amount of GH¢65.2 million that was requested by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture as additional payment to the said transport company.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
Deputy Minister for Finance, Thomas Ampem Nyarko, has revealed that thousands of tonnes of food supplied under government’s 2024 dry spell intervention cannot be accounted for after a special audit.
According to him, the audit found discrepancies in the supply of rice and maize purchased by the Government of Ghana to support farmers and vulnerable communities affected by the dry spell.
He explained that government paid for 34,000 metric tonnes of rice to help address the impact of the dry spell. However, records from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture show that only 24,000 metric tonnes were received and distributed.
He noted that about 10,000 metric tonnes of rice remain unaccounted for even though the full quantity had already been paid for by the state.
The deputy minister also disclosed that government had contracted a company to supply 100,000 metric tonnes of maize as part of the intervention.
He said the Ministry of Food and Agriculture submitted Stores Receipt Advice as proof that the full quantity of maize valued at GH¢771.2 million had been delivered. The document was presented to the Ministry of Finance to facilitate payment.
However, the audit revealed that only 11,900 metric tonnes of maize were actually supplied and distributed.
He further stated that the Stores Receipt Advice used to support the payment was accompanied by a checklist certified by the internal auditor of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The findings form part of a special audit conducted to review government expenditure related to the dry spell response in 2024.
By Jacob Aggrey
