Tribe Culture Denies $611,000 Claim, Demands Hard Proof

Tribe Culture Fest and its Chief Executive Officer, Nana Boateng Gyimah, have pushed back hard against allegations that the organisation illegally received $611,000 from private individuals and is refusing to refund it.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Gyimah said the claims, which have been attributed to the Minister for Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams, do not stand up to the facts. He insisted that neither Tribe nor its CEO received the money from the individuals mentioned in the allegation.

“Our position is clear. Tribe did not receive the alleged $611,000 from the private individuals referred to in the public allegation, and we do not enter into personal financial arrangements being attributed to us,” he said.

Gyimah explained that Tribe’s dealings with the National Sports Authority and the Ghana Tourism Authority were institutional and contractual, tied to specific programmes and activities. Those arrangements, he said, covered event logistics, travel arrangements, hotel bookings, transportation and security.

He said Tribe charged $3,000 and $2,000 as full and final payments for its role in the relevant activities, and stressed that the organisation did not receive payments directly from people seeking help to travel abroad. The arrangements, according to him, were not personal financial transactions involving people trying to secure visas to the United States, Canada or Mexico.

Gyimah also referred to claims that individuals paid between $14,000 and $20,000 to people at the NSA with promises of visas, mainly to the US and Canada. But he called for verifiable evidence showing who made the payments, who received the money, the dates and methods of payment, and the accounts used.

He further demanded agreements, receipts or acknowledgements linking Tribe or its CEO to the money, as well as the legal or contractual basis for demanding a refund from the organisation.

“These are not unreasonable demands. They are minimum evidentiary requirements for determining responsibility in a matter of this nature,” he said.

Gyimah maintained that any investigation must identify the actual recipients of the funds and establish whether the money was paid to an intermediary—and if so, where it ultimately went. If anyone claims Tribe received or must refund a particular amount, he said, the evidence should show the basis for that claim.

The denial follows allegations over the $611,000 and whether the organisation is required to refund it. Tribe Culture Fest insists it did not receive the money from the private individuals in question.