FA betrayed me - Muntaka

Former Sports Minister Hon. Mohammed Mutaka Mubarak has revealed he felt betrayed by officials of the Ghana Football Association during his time at the ministry.

The Asawase MP who was last week exonerated from allegations of corruption by CHRAJ (anti-corruption agency) broke his silence on one of Ghana’s leading social and political TV program on Metro TV “Good Evening Ghana”.

“I enjoyed a very cordial relationship with officials of the GFA especially the President Kwasi Nyantakyi,” he said.

“I don’t want to single out any of the associations under the sports ministry as responsible for my debacle because the conspiracy was comprehensive but i must say i felt betrayed by the GFA.

“We engaged each other constantly in meetings and even agreed upon certain issues only to come out of the meeting and realise what we discussed and agreed upon is not being implemented.

“For instance, the GFA and the ministry in one of its meetings agreed to open a joint account where monies withdrawn and deposited would not go unnoticed.

“I even went to my boss the President to inform him about this arrangement and he was so excited, only to return and realise its not being done.

“I however kept reminding them of the delay and they kept giving me excuses upon excuses and eventually it never happened until i left the ministry.”

The MP also finally disclosed in details what actually ensured between him and midfielder Sulley Muntari on the eve of Ghana’s joint Africa and World Cup qualifier against Benin where there were reports of misunderstanding between the two over winning bonuses.

“I was then new at the ministry and needed time to put things together and also realised we had to cut down on our spending because they were at a point becoming unsustainable.

“I therefore discussed and agreed with the GFA to perch the wining bonus at $10,000 instead of a proposed $15,000 and so i had to explain the situation to the players.

“At the meeting I told the players the difficulties the ministry was facing and assured them the bonuses would be increased once the situation improves.

“I also told them they should be privileged enough to play for their nation rather than be too concerned of the monetary aspect because a lot of Ghanaians would give the world to play for Ghana and before I could say jack, i heard “Then go and bring them to play”.

“I don’t really want to dwell on this issue too much because it was later sorted out between the two of us and it wouldn’t be to fair to the boy since he is not here,” he added.

Hon. Mutaka concluded by saying though he is not canvassing for a return to the ministry now that he has been cleared, he will deal with situations in a very much different way due to his past experience if given a second chance.

He also saw the swift conclusion of the construction of the $12m National Hockey pitch for the Nations Cup held last year as one of his major achievements while at the ministry.