Gov’t spent $8m on AFCON 2015 – Sports Minister

Government spent about $8,017,099.19 on Ghana’s preparation and participation in the 2015  African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Equatorial Guinea.

The Youth and Sports Minister, Mahama Ayariga revealed that the Ministry spent $4,774,519.19 on preparation and $3,242,580.00 on Ghana’s participation in the AFCON.The Minister made this revelation when he gave a detailed account of all expenses made by government during the three-week tournament.

Ghanaians have been demanding a detailed account of how much the country spent on the Black Stars and the technical team before and during the tournament.

The Minister had early on refused to disclose the budget allocation for the AFCON with the explanation that the budget report will be submitted to the appropriate authorities.

Mahama Ayariga subsequently appeared before Parliament on Wednesday and revealed out of the amount, $932,740 and $3,242,580.00 were approved for boarding and lodging, air-fair, per diem, friendly matches, and other expenses of the team for its training camp in Seville, Spain.

Also, $648,640 was approved for per diem allowances, boarding and lodging and other expenses for the players and the officials of for the tournament phase.

$3,224,139.20 was approved for the bonuses and honorarium for the players, the technical and management team, as well as other officials of the team.

He however indicated that the winning bonuses and honoraria of the technical team and other officials of the team were reduced by between 20% and %30 of the previous payment structure.

By: Efua Idan Osam