Former Director-General of Ghana’s National Lottery Authority (NLA), Samuel Awuku, pushed back against a recent investigative report by The Fourth Estate, accusing the outlet of conflating the agency’s strategic marketing initiatives with its charitable expenditures.

In a statement issued following the report’s publication, Mr. Awuku described the coverage as “deliberately misleading,” arguing that the piece inaccurately presented sponsorships as a misallocation of funds meant for the NLA’s Good Causes Foundation.

Mr. Awuku, who also serves as Member of Parliament for Akuapem North, said he granted The Fourth Estate an interview on August 18, 2025, in which he detailed the NLA’s operational structure. He expressed disappointment that the final report, in his view, omitted key context and “ignored the broader benefits of NLA’s strategic marketing partnerships.”

At the heart of the disagreement is the role of the NLA Caritas Lottery Platform, a revenue-generating vehicle established under the National Lotto Act. Mr. Awuku emphasized that corporate sponsorships—such as those for the Africa Prosperity Dialogue and the Ghana CEO Summit—were spearheaded by the NLA’s Marketing Department as part of a broader campaign to build brand visibility and attract strategic partners from Corporate Ghana.

“These sponsorships weren’t charitable giveaways,” he said. “They were calculated investments aimed at increasing the Authority’s reach and credibility among stakeholders.”

According to Mr. Awuku, these efforts significantly boosted revenue, with the Caritas Platform growing from a nominal fund to generating over GHS 11 million between 2021 and 2024. Those funds, he noted, directly support the Good Causes Foundation’s philanthropic work.

He accused the publication of “blurring the lines” between marketing expenses and charitable disbursements, calling the report “mischief masquerading as accountability journalism.”

The Fourth Estate has not publicly responded to Mr. Awuku’s rebuttal