Black Stars coach, Charles Akonnor and assistant David Duncan
Coaches of the Senior National Team, the Black Stars, are struggling to get their salaries paid by the government, with just six months to end their two-year contract.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports made part payment of the 13-month salary arrears to head coach Charles Akonnor and his assistant, David Duncan in April 2021.
The two coaches were paid for just five months’ work, and the rest of the arrears have still not been paid into their accounts.
Both Akonnor and Duncan were paid along with former Black Stars coach, Kwesi Appiah by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, as debts owed for their services.
Coach Akonnor received $20,000 of his monthly salary while Duncan received seven months of his salary, estimated at $70,000.
A source who spoke to the state newspaper as monitored by Ghanaweb revealed that the coaches are very outraged about the kind of treatment offered to them by government and football authorities.
“The coaches are very disgusted by this kind of treatment being meted out to them by the authorities and keep making comparisons between what is happening to them now and how the same authorities dispatch the payment of foreign coaches with alacrity,” a source told Graphic Sports last Friday.
The Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) were mandated to pay the salaries of the coaches through the Sports Ministry per the agreement signed with the coaches and GFA in January 2020.
However, checks reveal that GNPC has terminated the contract and now offers support to the Sports Ministry financially for infrastructural developments such as AstroTurf pitches for communities.
With the signing of the new Dutch assistant coach, Patrick Greveraars, the coaches are worried about the disgrace which would befall Ghana football if their conditions are not changed and the GFA does not intervene in the matter.