Ghana’s Sports Minister, Mustapha Ussif has blamed the Ghana Cycling Federation for the equipment failure by Ghanaian cyclists at the ongoing African Games.

On Sunday, the country’s national cycling champion, Michael Naaba, withdrew from the cycling competition due to a faulty bicycle.

Shortly after taking off, the tube connected to Naaba’s bike exploded, so he had to withdraw from the race.

Naaba afterward revealed he was using an old tube he had been using for training for the competition since there was no provision for new ones for them.

This revelation by the cyclist coupled with similar complaints from other cyclists led to the Sports Ministry and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the African Games being heavily criticised by Ghanaians.

But in a sharp response to this issue, Ghana’s Sports Minister, Mustapha Ussif, has absolved the ministry and the LOC of any blame for the equipment failure fiasco at the African Games.

Mustapha Ussif blamed the Ghana Cycling Federation for this mess as according to him, the ministry and the LOC requested from the various Federations to submit all required equipment needed to perform at the games.

“Basketball submitted their list, and we went through it with them and procured all the equipment for them worth close to a million dollars, just like other Federations,” the Minister said.

“So if you’re the Cycling Federation, and you knew that you needed fibre-made bicycles and not aluminium bicycles, it is your responsibility to submit your list to us, and we will get them. If we can not get all, at least we will buy some,” Mustapha Ussif said.