The NLA Scandal: A Charity for the Powerful, A Mockery of the Poor- Kay Codjoe Writes

When you open the National Lottery Authority’s “Good Causes” list, you expect to see orphanages, hospitals, schools for destitute children. Instead, you are greeted with a roll call of Ghana’s elite, its institutions of influence, and a carnival of prestige projects. It reads less like a record of charity and more like the budget for a corporate gala, all under the watch of Sammy Awuku, then Director-General of the NLA and now Member of Parliament for Akuapem North.

The Fourth Estate uncovered the evidence. Instead of the poor, millions of cedis found their way into corporate ballrooms and glossy awards nights. EMY Africa Awards took GHS 90,000. Ghana CEO Awards walked away with GHS 350,000. Gabby Otchere-Darko’s Africa Prosperity Network Awards received GHS 250,000. Ghana Club 100 Awards got GHS 200,000. Glitz Women of the Year was gifted GHS 80,000. Even Asamoah Gyan, a man who already lives in a USD 3 million mansion, had his memoir padded with GHS 50,000. Meanwhile, psychiatric hospitals overflowed with neglect and orphanages stretched out their hands for scraps. The very people the law was written for were handed five and seven-thousand-cedi crumbs. And here sits the Good Causes Foundation, dishing out cheques like confetti at a wedding.

Half a million cedis was spent on an astroturf project in Bantama. Police stations were built in constituencies later contested by Sammy Awuku. The Chief of Staff’s Office collected GHS 350,000 for Independence Day fanfare. MPs across both parties walked away with over a million cedis for their pet causes. The Attorney General’s office itself collected GHS 570,000 for conferences. Entertainment was not left out. Accra Hearts of Oak got GHS 250,000, Empire Protocol was given GHS 100,000 for “Accra in Paris,” and Black Avenue Muzik enjoyed GHS 80,000 for its “Tropical Fiesta.”

Look again at the list and the pattern is unmistakable. St. Augustine’s Past Students Union, 2001 year group, took GHS 95,000 for a washroom refurbishment. The All-Africa Students Union collected GHS 100,000 for an elective congress. HOPSA ’97 got GHS 100,000 for a housing renovation. Even the Council on Foreign Relations had its lectures transcribed with GHS 40,000 of the poor man’s lotto.

Some names leap off the page as if daring us to question them. The Rebecca Foundation, GHS 100,000. The Office of the Ga Mantse, GHS 50,000 for a royal children’s party and another GHS 60,000 for a cultural summit in Nigeria. Mustapha Ussif Empowerment Foundation, GHS 110,000 across two programs in Tolon. Koku Anyidoho’s Atta Mills Institute, GHS 50,000 for the 10th Anniversary celebration. Vincent Ekow Assafuah, MP for Old Tafo, GHS 40,000 for “medical support.” All of it was signed off when Sammy Awuku was at the helm.

When pressed, Mr. Awuku defended the spending as a marketing strategy. But marketing does not clothe a child. Awards do not heal the sick. Prestige projects do not feed the hungry. His casual admission that much of the NLA’s work would be illegal if the law were followed strictly was not a defence. It was a confession.

And then came the desperate letter. After the Fourth Estate publication, Sammy Awuku hurriedly released a statement in an attempt to exonerate himself. So rushed was the effort that the dates on the letter were inconsistent and even the fonts were all over the place. A defence against financial mismanagement that cannot manage its own formatting is not just sloppy, it is symbolic.

So let us stop calling this the Good Causes Foundation. Call it what it is: a slush fund for prestige, a charity for the powerful, a mockery of the poor.

In a country where “Nipa yɛ cutlery set,” this list is proof. People are polished up when needed, used to serve a purpose, then put back in the drawer.

The scandal is not just the money wasted. It is the betrayal of purpose. A law written for the vulnerable was twisted into a banquet for the privileged. And once again, the poor are left waiting outside the hall, listening to the music of a party they were never invited to.

By Kay Codjoe