Broadcast journalist Saddick Adams has described the Ghana National Senior team as a crime scene which he says has been operated by few cartels from the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and few government officials.
He made this known when reacting to the whopping $8.5million budget for Ghana’s participation in the 2023 AFCON revealed by Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
Ablakwa in a Facebook post detailed, “From latest unimpeachable, irrefutable and indisputable intercepted documents in my possession — I can boldly confirm that the Ghanaian government and the GFA put together and agreed on a shocking AFCON preparation and participation budget of US$8,506,450.00. This hefty US$8.5million translates into a colossal GHS105million at current exchange. Note that the GHS105million is entirely separate from the GHS27.9million spent on the qualifiers.
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He added, “The figure US$8,506,450.00 is contained in an intercepted letter from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, dated 2nd January, 2024. It is addressed to the Minister of Finance requesting part payment of US$5,071,840.36 from the total Black Stars budget of US$8,506,450.00. The request letter in issue is signed by Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr. William Kartey on behalf of the Minister, Hon. Mustapha Ussif.
“It would be interesting to know what thought processes went into a scary US$8.5million budget for a bankrupt country which has defaulted on its loans and is desperately seeking an IMF bailout. It is worth noting that the prize money for the winner of the AFCON is US$7million. What this means is that even if the Black Stars had won the trophy, the public officials who put this budget together were determined to ensure that Ghana made losses in excess of US$1.5million. I have been wondering how government and FA officials in a country like Zambia can approve a total budget of only US$2.1million for the same AFCON competition and be fine, but Ghana has to live large and ostentatious — a bankrupt country undergoing debt restructuring and unable to construct resettlement homes for victims of VRA’s catastrophic spillage from the Akosombo and Kpong dams.”
The Angel FM Sports Journalist reacting to the revelation described it as crime committed by officials of GFA to budget such huge amount for a tournament that the winner gets $7m.
