The senior national team, Black Stars are yet to receive their bonuses for the opening two games in the qualifying series to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
This was revealed by Sports Minister Isaac Kwame Asiamah when he took his turn at the Ministry of Information’s ‘Meet the Press’ session in Accra Wednesday.
Ghana were up and running when the qualifiers to Cameroon 2021 began in November. Coach Kwasi Appiah’s men dispatched South Africa 2-0 at Cape Coast Stadium before sealing their year with a 1-0 victory away to Sao Tome and Principe.
But their match bills remain outstanding since a little over the past fortnight.
The Minister explained: “…We don’t pay players cash; everything goes through their bank accounts in cedi equivalent.”
“We have [an issue with] release of funds [from the Finance Ministry]. As we speak, our fourth quarter [allocation] hasn’t hit our accounts. When it does, we will play those we owe.
“Two of the Black Stars [winning] bonuses are outstanding – [for games against] Sao Tome and South Africa. We are going through the processes so we get paid and can pay them.
“When we send teams out there, we pay for their accommodation, we feed and compensate them with per diems. For matches they [Black Stars] played against South Africa and South Tome, our chief accountant followed them and paid them per diems.
“Our inability to pay bonuses promptly doesn’t mean we are maltreating players,” Hon Asiamah added.
The Sports Ministry’s chief accountant also admitted that the office encountered “some challenges” in paying head coach Kwasi Appiah and his backroom staff salaries for some time now. He however assured that “by tomorrow [Thursday, December 4], we will be paying some of the months that we owe them.”
