A sports journalist at TV XYZ has criticised Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Adams after no journalist from the station was included among the media personnel selected to cover the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States.
The journalist said TV XYZ had strongly supported the National Democratic Congress (NDC) during the 2024 general elections, campaigning for the party before it returned to power.
Despite that support, the station was not allocated a single visa slot for a journalist to attend the tournament. The journalist said he and his colleagues were disappointed and believed the minister had to answer for the controversy surrounding the selection process.
“The whole of XYZ, we were solidly behind this government and made noise to bring them to power. When it came to the slots for media personnel, we did not get even one to travel to America for the World Cup. Disgraceful,” he said.
“I won’t talk about him; he should do whatever he wants. If you have sold visas and they’re coming to arrest you guys, take it.”
The journalist also questioned why TV XYZ had been overlooked while allegations of visa sales had emerged in connection with arrangements made at the National Sports Authority (NSA) office.
“Time will tell. Kofi Adams could not consider the stations that openly campaigned for the NDC. TV XYZ, you can’t bypass us, yet we did not get one slot. Then you sat at the NSA office to sell visas, and there is controversy. What should I say? They should go ahead with the investigation,” he said.
His comments come amid a wider controversy over the allocation of media opportunities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He called for the matter to be investigated rather than dismissed.
The journalist also directed criticism at the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and its president, Kurt Okraku, questioning the leadership’s commitment to people he said had helped government appointees gain power.
“Having someone like Kurt Okraku as GFA President is a joke. You have been disgraced. You don’t even pick up calls from people who helped you. It is left with two years; we shall see. Keep treating the grassroots badly,” he said.
The criticism of Kofi Adams was made in relation to the failure to secure even one World Cup visa slot for a journalist from TV XYZ, while the journalist maintained that the station had openly campaigned for the NDC during the 2024 general elections.
