Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has sounded a word of caution to the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Black Stars over the latter’s continuous disappointing performance at the African Cup of Nations.
Ghana failed to advance from the group stages once again after failing to beat Mozambique this time around.
Ghana exited Group B with just 2 points after losing to Cape Verde, drawing with Egypt and subsequently Mozambique.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the peeved North Tongu legislator reminded the Black Stars team and the Sports Ministry how much was spent by the government for them to provide this appalling performance.
“I hope Ghanaian footballers called to play for the Black Stars recognize that apart from the pride and high honour in representing our nation, taxpayers are making extraordinary sacrifices on the team despite the prevailing economic crisis. The huge financial burden on struggling taxpayers must warrant some respect and utmost commitment from these players,” he wrote.
He noted that documents submitted to Parliament by Ghana’s Youth and Sports Ministry a few weeks ago have shed light on a number of these Black Stars expenditure items:
1) 2024 AFCON Qualifier (Ghana V Angola — Home & Away) — GHS7,452,437.71
2) 2024 AFCON Qualifier (Ghana V Madagascar — Home & Away) — GHS8,395,434.13
3) 2024 AFCON Qualifier (Ghana V Central Africa Republic — Home & Away) — GHS3,414,894.51
4) April to June 2023 salaries of the coach & signing on fees — GHS3,379,548.10
5) The official ministerial documents also reveal that it cost taxpayers a significant GHS5,324,721.89 to airlift supporters of the Black Stars during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
These 5 items amount to a colossal GHS27,967,036.34
“Note that this GHS27.9million spent on Black Stars related activities during a period of historic economic crisis does not include latest tournament expenditure items in Côte d’Ivoire (I shall highlight that later),” he said.
He stressed that work must be done to overturn this calamity by the Black Stars to ensure that the money spent on them will benefit the country.
“For a country undergoing unprecedented financial haircuts which does not spare even the aged, and for a country unable to raise GHS4million to save lives at Korle-Bu’s renal unit — players of our senior national team and GFA officials must acknowledge that there are so many national problems we can solve with GHS27.9million and that we do not deserve this calamitous output,” he wrote.