The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has disclosed that they don’t have control over the amount that is spent when Ghana’s national teams go for tournaments.
According to the GFA, their job is only to prepare the budget for the team and present it to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for approval.
The GFA has come under serious criticism after Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, after Ghana exited the tournament in the group stage, revealed that the Black Stars’ 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) budget was $8.5 million (GH₵105 million).
Reacting to why Ghana’s 2023 AFCON budget was pegged at $8.5 million, an amount bigger than the winning prize, Vice President of the GFA, Mark Addo, explained that their job is to only prepare a budget but don’t have any control over how much is spent.
“When the FA is [done preparing the budget], they sit down with the ministry and scrutinize it and when it is completed, we present it to them. So that’s our job. Once that is done, as to the actual money which gets approved, as to the actual amount that is actually spent, the FA has no input in that. The FA does not receive any money from the ministry as specifically to spend on any item.
The ministry has an accountant who is embedded in the team so for every particular expenditure, they go to this accountant and he also go through the budget.”
He added that ‘The notion that the ministry has spent $8.5 million, is a perception. The actual money they spent, honestly I don’t think anybody in the FA knew because we didn’t advance from our group stage.”
