Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Adams says only five of the 31 winners of a second raffle organised to facilitate travel to the 2026 FIFA World Cup secured visas to the United States.He says the government is working on a compensation package for the remaining 26 winners who were unable to travel.Speaking to the media in Parliament on Thursday, November 5, amid growing controversy over the World Cup fundraising exercise, Mr Adams explained that an initial group of seven to 10 raffle winners had their travel documents processed after a meeting with the organisers.According to the Buem MP, the group was subsequently refunded but asked to resubmit the money to Rambell to proceed with the original travel arrangements.However, almost all the winners declined the request and opted to keep their refunds.Mr Adams further disclosed that a second raffle, organised by Mpuntu, produced 31 winners. Although travel documents were processed for all 31 participants, only five managed to secure US visas.He maintained that the money raised through the second raffle had not been spent and remained in the custody of the fundraising committee to compensate those who could not travel.”Every pesewa of the raffle that was run by Mpuntu has not been touched. That money has not been touched. The fundraising committee is still holding on to those funds to make sure that everybody is appropriately compensated,” he said.The minister also dismissed allegations by the NPP Minority in Parliament concerning the use of foreign telephone numbers in the fundraising exercise, describing the claims as false.”If the NPP Minority in Parliament is running a story and talking about foreign numbers and what have you, that’s a complete lie,” he added.
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