Na who cause am?; $3m chopped free;$500,000 chartered flight to send money and more

• Posted on June 27, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

GHANA’S WORLD Cup dream fizzled out after conceding a 2-1 defeat in the hands of the Portugal national team in the last Group G match of the tournament at Brasilia, the Brazilian capital, yesterday.

The defeat came on the heels of the payment of a mouth-watering $3 million to the Black Stars as their appearance fee, amidst confusion in the camp of the team – where two senior players, Sulley Muntari and Kelvin Prince Boateng, were sacked for unruly behaviour.

The two players, plying their trade in Italy and Germany respectively, were given the matching order following an alleged act of indiscipline which resulted in the exchange of blows at the camp with officials of the Black Stars management team.

Blows

According to sources, Sulley Mutari had a confrontation with Moses Armah, a management member, on the issue of the team’s unpaid allowance.

“…What’s the use of so many GFA officials and others here? You are basically non-essential and have no role or duties here. Your number even dwarfs that of the players… You receive bonuses for no work done; you are a drain on the government. You always make money on our back and you see every tournament as a means to make money, and you have the vim to question us why we want our money?”
he reportedly stated, angering the GFA chief.
Moses Armah: Your money will come; take time, the captain is speaking…

Sulley: Shut up! Are you the one paying the money or you are the President?

Moses Armah: I won’t allow you to include me in your list of victims oo…..I’m a gangster than you.

Sulley: So you can fight me eh (moving towards Moses’ direction and disentangling himself from other guys retraining him).

Moses Armah: I’m ready for you. You think I’m a coward?

Sulley: (Picks a bottle and drops it; surprisingly jumps and slaps Moses) F..k you!!

Moses: (Returns the slap with a blow, lifts a fork…and Jonathan Mensah holds Moses’ hand up).

All this while, sources said Essien sat quietly with Asamoah Gyan and Stephen Appiah speaking Ga to Sulley, trying to calm him down as Moses was whisked away by Shaban Quaye.

In the case of Kevin-Prince Boateng, he was alleged to have insulted the coach, Kwasi Appiah, earning the former a dismissal from the team after each of them had collected the $100,000 appearance fee.

After collecting the fee Wednesday evening ahead of yesterday’s game with Portugal, the Black Stars players could not match their opponents, allowing them to run away with victory – after opening the game with an own goal by a Ghanaian defender.

John Boye mis-kicked into his own net before Asamoah Gyan equalised; but Cristiano Ronaldo fetched the winning goal for Portugal in the second half.

Ghana, with only one point and Portugal four, has exited the tournament as Germany (seven points) and USA (four) – with better goals aggregate – have progressed to the second stage of the soccer fiesta.

A BBC commentator said the Ghanaians looked tired, perhaps they counted money all night.

$500,000 Chartered Flight

Unconfirmed reports filtering in indicate that the government of John Dramani Mahama may have blown $500,000 to charter the private jet that conveyed the Black Stars’ controversial $3 million ‘appearance fee’ to Brazil.

The cost is said to include the flight charges, overnight fees, landing fees, international fees and other miscellaneous costs that such chartered flights normally attract.
Attempts by DAILY GUIDE to confirm the speculations on the cost of transporting the gargantuan amount of money to the disgruntled Black Stars players at their base in Brazil, had been unsuccessful as telephone calls and text messages to Mahama Ayariga and Ben Dotsei Malor, Information and Media Relations minister and Presidential spokesperson respectively, were not acknowledged.

The chartered flight departed Accra Kotoka International Airport (KIA) around 3:00 pm local time after initially encountering difficulties in getting clearance for landing and for transporting unusual state-sponsored cargo, DAILY GUIDE gathered.

The chartered plane was said to have landed in Brasilia at 20:00 (local time) on Wednesday and with a heavy police escort, the $3 million was transported to the team’s Brasilia Palace Hotel amidst live telecast by Brazilian television channels and other international media.

Live telecast showed the chartered flight landing on the tarmac; afterwards several suitcases of cash were seen being packed into two bullion vans amidst a heavy security presence.

Around 22.30 pm local time, approximately, 11 paramilitary vans were seen escorting the two bullion vans to the Brasilia Palace Hotel. The suitcases were offloaded and $100,000 cash was doled out to each player on table top.

Brazilian news agency portal Globo.com has published exclusive pictures of Black Stars players receiving their appearance fees ahead of Thursday’s final Group G match against Portugal.

According to the news portal, shortly after the arrival of the entourage, the players, in turns, entered one of the hotel rooms to receive the money.

According to reports, some players kept the money in their pockets or wrapped it in pieces of cloth. Others left with the wad of bills in their hand.

Tension

There have been reports of serious tension and disagreement in the Black Stars’ camp following the continuous failure of the nation’s football administration to pay up the players’ bonuses after two matches.

Some of the players were on the verge of boycotting the last match with Portugal, sources toldDAILY GUIDE, adding that indeed some of them boycotted training on Tuesday because of the unpaid money.

The Ghanaian FA was due to receive their fee from FIFA after the tournament, but the squad feared that their cut might not reach them at that stage.

It took the personal intervention of President Mahama, who purportedly called the team’s captain, Asamoah Gyan, to assure them of the delivery of the outstanding money.

“The players insisted that they will want physical cash,” Deputy Sports Minister Joseph Yammin said in comments broadcast by Accra-based Citi FM. “Government had to mobilise the money and a chartered flight to Brazil. The money is in excess of $3 million,” he was reported as saying.

$1.5m For Supporters

DAILY GUIDE learnt that the money sent to Brazil by government was in the region of $4.5 million, with $1.5 million set aside for supporters who did not receive good treatment since they arrived in Brazil for the Mundial.

Yammin actually confirmed that the money sent to Brazil was far in excess of the $3 million announced.

Negative Media

The spectacle of Ghana’s handling of its players’ entitlement has become a pervasive talking point threatening to drown other developments in the World Cup.

Several international media organisations, including the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera, covered the situation in the Ghanaian camp and the curious airlifting of cash to the country.

International media described the situation as a “circus in Brazil” and with the biggest television station running live commentary of the money being transported and subsequently players being paid.

The internet was also awash with funny comments being made about Ghana. One baffled commentator stated, “Pretty funny actually…shows you how much corruption is involved in these games…from the location picking to the paying of the players…..everyone wants their cut…”

Another commentator stated: “Ghana is one of the only countries in the world with a fee-free national e-wallet and electronic payment system with biometric authentication, so the State could have simply made digital 0?s and 1?s appear in their accounts instantly… and yet they ask for actual paper banknotes…

“So they’re either spending it on hookers and blow this weekend or converting into some sort of tangible asset more suitable for preservation in very short order.”

Breaching The Law

Meanwhile, some financial analysts are accusing government of breaching the Forex rules by the Bank of Ghana restricting expatriation of large sums of foreign currency out of the country at a go.

According to currency analyst, Sammi Ampah, “The move flouts the forex rules of the Central Bank which says ‘the threshold for transfer abroad without initially submitting documentation is 50,000 dollars’.”

By Raphael Ofori-Adeniran & I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Brasilia