The New Crusading GUIDE newspaper has learned with horror accounts of the circumstances surrounding how some victims of visa fraud at the recent Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games were assaulted and manhandled in Accra by officials of African Origin Travels and Sports Tourism – the Ministry of Youth and Sports’ appointed sole authorised ticket reseller and hospitality provider for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
One particular incident that has been corroborated by several witnesses occurred when “a grown-up woman” was brutalised by officials of the travel and tour company for demanding a refund of her daughter’s visa application payments at the African Origin Office at Ridge in Accra.
Per the various accounts, another man, Mr. Kyeremanteng who works at the Jubilee House, who tried to intervene in the ensuing melee was also assaulted: his shirt torn apart and his phone seized when he tried to capture the incident on video. According to the victims, several such developments occurred in the months of July and August 2022 after African Origin had failed to produce the U.K. visas it had promised the victims, having collected monies from ¢5,000 to over ¢7,000 from them.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports on 24th May 2022 officially announced the appointment of African Origin Travel and Sports Tourism -which is owned by the President of the National Paralympic Committee Samson Deen – as the sole authorised ticket reseller and hospitality provider for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. But the Games began on 28th July and ended on 8th August with thousands of visa applicants yet to receive their visas, their passports, and no clarification from African Origin about what had happened. One of the leaders of the various victims’ groups, Sofo Kofi (not his real name) told this investigation how he got to know about the supposed trip to Birmingham through an advertisement on private television station Onua TV.
He subsequently contacted Capt. Smart of Onua TV in July to facilitate a meeting with Samson Deen. A phone conversation between Capt. Smart and Samson Deen ensued before Sofo Kofi left to pay the registration fee of ¢5,000 to the former at the office of African Origin.
The present investigation has been unable to speak to Capt. Smart concerning the allegations but we have seen a video clip of a newspaper review programme hosted by Capt. Smart on Onua TV on 1st September. Smart expressed his outrage at the scandal but also admitted he had also advertised African Origin’s package for the Games on Onua TV.
“We also advertised African Origin’s package here! They (African Origin) said, pay ¢5,000 and pay the rest when you receive the visa. Look, it is wrong. It is bad,” Capt. Smart said in the video clip while promising to investigate the issue later. According to Sofo Kofi, he had the necessary bank statement to support his visa application but others were made to pay the extra money, between ¢1500 and ¢2000 for the financial statement.
He was subsequently asked to make a further payment of ¢640 for expedited action on his application as the Games was due to be held on 28th July.
He added that his group made all their payments to one Majeed, a staff member of African Origin, and were given a 95% assurance of getting their visas before the Games. However, Sofo Kofi said the staff of the Travel and Tour Company kept making contradictory statements when he and others sought to understand the reason for the delay in their visa applications as the days got closer to the Games and even after the event was done.
As the agitation to know why the visas had been delayed grew, the victims got together and formed WhatsApp groups with a common aim of knowing what had happened.
To their shock and amazement, they realised hundreds and thousands of people had been given the same raw deal by Samson Deen. “Some of us got our passports back but there was no refusal letter in it,” he said before adding, “No reason, documents, and no explanation on whatever happened. We wanted him (Samson Deen) to speak to us as a leader and explain what had happened.”
Sofo Kofi said the victims eventually got together to protest at the Ministry of Youth and Sports office at Ministries, Accra, and the African Origin Travels and Sports Tourism office, opposite Switzerland Embassy at Ridge, Accra.
Things got heated at the African Origin office with some victims of the fraud threatening to vandalise the property of the travel and tour company.
As Sofo Kofi recalled, a group of Police Officers from the Greater Accra Regional Command arrived on the scene at a point, but he recognised the Inspector who led the team as someone he was acquainted with.
Upon inquiry, the victim got to know that Samson Deen had called the Police to protect his property as he felt threatened by the presence of the very people, he had duped. According to him, the leadership of the victims of the Birmingham Games was advised to petition the Police CID at the NIMA Divisional Command, and also deliver letters to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the British High Commission, and the Ghana Journalist Association. “We got to know more about our case when we arrived at the British High Commission.
The lady at the front desk was very helpful. But when we went back the following day to make more inquiries, she told us she was not the one who told us anything the previous day.
She said she does not want to lose her job,” Sofo Kofi said. Curiously, none of the victims who spoke to this investigation received email correspondence from either the British High Commission or its local agent TLC.
Many suspect foul play and do not even believe African Origin applied for their visa applications in the first place. The victims have told us their attempts at seeking justice from the Police, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the British High Commission has proved futile. One confessed that Deen appears to have a hold on the Police who find themselves helpless and hopeless in this case.
This investigation has not been able to speak to Samson Deen yet who doubles as President of the National Paralympic Committee and also the African Paralympic Committee President. Deen chickened out of an advertised interview with TV Africa’s Dennis Osei Gyamfi on September 3, 2022 after Deen informed the station he was on a flight out of the country.
