Black Stars fiasco in Brazil: Blame Afriyie-Ankrah - Yamin

Former deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Joseph Yamin, has shifted the entire blunder that occurred before, during and after the shameful Black Stars exit from the ongoing World Cup in Brazil to his former boss, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah.

Addressing an arranged crowd of National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters at the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council last Monday, Mr. Yamin sought to purge himself of the brouhaha leading to the shambolic performance of the Black Stars at the Mundial.

He told the rapturous crowd that since he was not at the World Cup tournament, it would be improper for anybody to blame him for any error on the part of the ministry.

“You have heard several controversies on the airwaves about me during the World Cup but I didn’t even go there, and I was not in the thick of affairs, so why should anybody blame me for any mishap?” he said to the youthful crowd.

As if he was referring to some inner party members, the embattled former deputy sports minister continued, “but no matter what they say about me, I still remain the regional secretary of the NDC.”

Sources close to the deputy minister told this paper earlier that former Minister of Youth and Sports, Afriyie Ankrah, ‘mafiad’ Mr. Yamin with regard to the ‘plenty soup’ which was supposed to have come out of the World Cup arrangements.

“Do you know that Afriyie-Ankrah rather put his brother in charge of many committees instead of Yamin?” he asked rhetorically.

A source close to Mr. Yamin also whispered to Today that Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah gave Mr. Yamin only 10 slots for the World Cup while he took about 700 slots for himself.

It was therefore not surprising that Mr. Yamin tried to absolve himself of any blame from the Black Stars debacle in Brazil.

Mr. Yamin has been in the news for the past few weeks for the wrong reasons. And that action by the deputy sports minister led to his reshuffle by the president as the Ashanti regional deputy minister.

First, it was alleged by the current regional Youth Organiser of NDC, Kwaku Boahen that he had opened a travel and tour company which he intended to use to reap huge benefits from people who would like to travel to Brazil.

This allegation, though unsubstantiated, raised a huge question of conflict of interest against Mr. Yamin.

Then came his infamous statement that only NDC supporters would be sent to Brazil, since they worked hard to ensure the party’s victory in the 2012 general elections.

Just when Ghanaians were thinking of releasing his throat to allow him some breath, Mr. Yamin then phoned into a live program on Joy FM to announce that government had chartered a flight to send three million dollars ($3m) to the Black Stars in Brazil.

The said announcement showed how shallow the ministry’s communication mechanism was since it has emerged that there was no need for such announcement.

All these have added to the many errors of the sports ministry, the Football Administration and the team leading to the great embarrassment the nation has suffered so far.

However, Mr. Yamin says he is not to be blamed for any mishap that occurred at the World Cup because he was not there and was also not in the thick of affairs during the preparations.