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Former Youth and Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye has explained that his inability to pay an amount owed by the state to DK Poison was due to the risk of conflict of interest.
Ghana’s first world boxing champion, DK Poison has been waiting for more than four decades to pay back a loan he made to the government of Ghana from his wrestling bag.
The loan was advanced purely in a gentlemen’s agreement with officials of the then military government of Ghana, in Tokyo, Japan, where DK Poison had won his second title defense against Shigefumi Fukuyama.
At the time, there were economic difficulties in Ghana and the unavailability of foreign exchange further compounded the problems.
According to legend, he won a purse of $ 75,000 from that fight and was paid an amount of 34,000 cedis, through a transfer at the then Barclays Bank, which equaled $ 30,000 at the time. This meant that an outstanding amount of $ 45,000 was due.
This angle is a highlight in the upcoming Joy News / Joy Sports Hotline documentary, The boxing loan.
“Being in a relationship with him, I was a little scared by a possible conflict of interest problem. Even though I made a few attempts, I was a bit restricted in my demand that it be done at all costs, ”Nii Lante Vanderpuye told Joy Sports.
He served as Ghana’s Minister of Sports for 10 months before his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), lost the general election in Ghana in 2016.
“The whole transaction was such that all the people involved are not available at this time to authenticate. I’ve heard two or three deceased people talking about it. I heard the late GW Amarteifio talk about it because he was involved. I also remember the late Nii Kwei Mensah, the former president of the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA), talking about it before, ”revealed the deputy from Odododiodio.
According to the former Minister of Youth and Sports, the boxing fraternity decided to visit DK Poison at his residence in Teshie, Nungua on one of his birthdays and, curiously, the legend raised the issue again. “I remember very well that during the mandate of the Hon. ET Mensah as Sports Minister, there was a move like that so that if the government couldn’t pay the full sum, some could pay. But you know that spending government money is something you can’t just get up and do. “
“The auditors should come in and how will invoices be generated and everything. So it’s a very difficult thing to do. That is why it is a great difficulty for any sports minister or ministry to say that I promise to pay this money because it is not a small amount ”, he added.
He advises that the government as an institution must decide that this is what it wants to do. “We may not have the documents to support it. The evidence is not just documents, it must also be verbal agreements. “
“So we believe him and there is at least some evidence to show that he did. And some accounts of him doing that. People can tell and there is a historical story that can be endorsed, ”he said.
The former Sports Minister believes that it is up to the Executive that once it is decided that this is what they want to do, there must be a well-defined plan of how it will be done and that will be left to the Executive and the Legislature.
“There was also the issue of precedence that scared some of us that others would come and say that something happened and that they are going to be paid something. At this time, if the government has decided to extend the gesture for humanitarian reasons, I support it. If they can’t, the next NDC government will pick up where they left off.
The relationship between Nii Lante Vanderpuye and DK Poison
As a child, Nii Lante was a boxer and trained at Taylor Gym in Accra Newtown, where DK also trained. He also lived with his aunt, who was a close neighbor of DK Poison in Nima, a suburb of Accra.
DK Poison inspired Nii Lante Vanderpuye’s later exploits in boxing, making him, among many other things, a manager, promoter, and ring announcer.
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