Government funding for AFCON 2023 – Ablakwa was $8.5 million.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the North Tongu Member of Parliament, has claimed that the Youth and Sports Ministry allocated an approximate budget of $8.5 million, or GH¢105 million, for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
The MP claims that the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the government have made an effort to hide the funding allocated for the nation's AFCON preparations.
In a social media post, Mr. Ablakwa stated that he had obtained paperwork from the Youth and Sports Ministry that showed the nation's AFCON 2023 budget to be US$8,506,450.00. The lawmaker requests that Parliament look into the budget.
"The reason why the FA officials and the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government mounted such a valiant, if undemocratic, campaign to conceal the Black Stars AFCON funding should now be more evident. When we reconvene on February 6, 2024, Parliament must and will undoubtedly investigate this astounding budget," he wrote in the article.
The complete social media post by Ablakwa is below:
THE SECRET IS OUT AND THE WAIT IS OVER: GFA AND GOVT AGREED ON AN ASTOUNDING US$8.5 MILLION (GHS105 MILLION) BUDGET FOR BLACK STARS AFCON.
I will fulfill my promise to share more financial details about the AFCON tournament in Côte d'Ivoire in the best interest of the country, as I stated in my publication last week about the astounding GHS27.9 million taxpayers spent on the Black Stars between 2022 and 2023.
Officials from the government and GFA have taken every precaution to hide the amount of money allocated for the Black Stars' training and participation in the current 2024 AFCON.
The Ghanaian people have a right to know this fundamental information, but the Youth and Sports Minister and his supporters at the FA have openly refused to provide it, despite the Parliament's best efforts and the tireless work of Ghana's brave and vibrant sports journalists.
The Black Stars AFCON budget should not be the subject of conflict, hardship, squabble, or opacity under an open and responsible governance structure.
Even more concerning is the fact that, despite multiple press releases from the Sports Ministry and the FA, and several days following Ghana's disastrous and widely humiliating elimination from the AFCON, they have stayed incredibly silent over the Black Stars budget.
Is Ghana's AFCON Black Stars budget now considered a nuclear code?
It is a patriotic duty to take all necessary steps to safeguard information and bring it to the public's attention when an unaccountable government uses complex, hostile schemes to conceal information from the people. SOA Oversight will not fall short in this regard.
Based on the most recent unquestionable, incontrovertible, and unimpeachable intercepted documents that I have access to, I can confidently state that the GFA and the Ghanaian government collaborated to determine an astounding $8,506,450.00 budget for AFCON preparation and participation.
With the current currency rate, this substantial US$8.5 million is equivalent to a massive GHS105 million.
Keep in mind that the GHS27.9 million spent on the qualifications and the GHS105 million are totally unrelated.
An intercepted letter from the Ministry of Youth and Sports dated January 2, 2024, contains the sum of USD 8,506,450.00. The request for a portion of the $8,506,450.00 Black Stars budget, or $5,071,840.36, is directed to the Minister of Finance. The Ministry of Youth and Sports' Chief Director has signed the request letter in question. Mr. William Kartey on behalf of Hon. Mustapha Ussif, Minister.
It would be intriguing to understand the reasoning behind a frightening US$8.5 million budget for a bankrupt nation that has fallen behind on its debt and is frantically requesting an IMF rescue.
It is noteworthy that the AFCON winner would receive US$7 million in prize money. This suggests that the state officials who put together this budget were determined to make sure that Ghana suffered losses above US$1.5 million, even if the Black Stars had taken home the title.
I find it puzzling that government and FA officials in Zambia can approve a US$2.1 million total budget for the same AFCON competition and get away with it, while Ghana must live large and ostentatious, a bankrupt nation undergoing debt restructuring and unable to build resettlement homes for those displaced by the catastrophic VRA spillage from the Akosombo and Kpong dams.
The obscene GHS105 million budget was painfully supplemented by the fact that it did not ensure victory on the field.
Now that the Black Stars AFCON budget has been concealed, it should be evident why the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration and FA officials have mounted such a valiant, if undemocratic, fight.
Parliament will undoubtedly investigate this astounding budget when we reconvene on February 6, 2024.
Tomorrow at 3pm, SOA Oversight will return with more explosive intercepted documents.
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