Black stars must work with government.

One of Ghana's prolific midfielders, Sulley Muntari, who also plays professional football for Inter Milan (F.C. Internazionale Milano), had a well publicized altercation with the Minister for Youth & Sports, M. Mohammed Mubarak on the fringes of Ghana's World Cup qualifying match with Benin. The row between the minister and the player was about winning bonuses.

Apparently the FA was reneging on a winning bonus it had promised the players. And you could understand why the Muntari flared up. To add insult to injury, the minister is reported to have told the players that they would be replaced by the junior Under 23 side if they didn't accept the offer being made. One group of people you might have thought would not be affected by the world economic crises is people in showbiz, especially footballers. They have fat allowances, expensive holidays and high opinion ratings if they played well and stayed away from the misdemeanours associated with the trade. For many Ghanaians, football is more than food. It is the pulse of the nation and has been so for a very long time and would remain so whether in good or bad times. Â We are passionate about soccer and want our players to play well and get the wins. We don't mind paying what might appear as outrageous bonuses to our national team stars as long as they are playing well.

But the recession is affecting everyone quite badly. From the small hamlets in the Tolon Kunbungu District of Ghana to the biggest capitals of the world, it is a difficult time for everybody. The bankers, economists and politicians have screwed up, and life is twice difficult for all of us.

Muntari's salary at Milan is nearly £2million pounds per annum. Certainly you can forgive him for being oblivious to events around him. By Ghanaian standards, you can't feel something is happening around you if you earned that amount of money.

Bottom line is, super stars and politicians alike would have to feel the pain if times are hard. However, we have no moral justification to condemn MPs allowances and condone fat bonuses for footballers when times are obviously very hard. Members of parliament are tightening their belt, why not our ‘Black Stars?

T he minister has very genuine reasons for suggesting to slash the players’ bonuses. Companies and institutions all over the world are making adjustments or being asked to roll back on fat bonuses.

One of the oldest arguments of law is whether the right of the citizen is greater than the right of the entire society. And in this case do we renegotiate the package we have for our players or maintain it in a time when the national coffers are virtually empty?

Very rich nations like the US and UK are seriously looking into the salaries and allowances of people who are paid by the taxpayer and where appropriate, slashed down. In the row over Sir Fred Goodwin's (Former RBS Boss) retirement allowance, UK Prime Minister Brown blasted the former banker and described Sir Fred's allowance as “unjustified and unacceptable.”  President Obama recently condemned the allowances of senior executives of the bankrupt insurance company American International Group Inc. AIG.  Americans protested against large allowances and their will prevailed.Â

Footballers may have had little or no formal education, but they are not children. They need to be spoken to like the rest of the citizens of our country like adults. It is imperative for government to rally the nation into supporting government cutback policies in times like these.

Honourable Mubarak (who incidentally is my uncle) had no business threatening the players. He had no business negotiating and discussing salaries and bonuses with the players. It was a breach of good management practices. I found it difficult why the Minister would be talking to the players about bonuses on the day of the match.

This style of doing this does not do any good.

Our stars and everyone else who work in the interest of our country deserve good salaries bonuses, but that is only in good times. And wait a minute, in bad times, everyone bites the bullet and what costs you are going to cost them (footballers).

Ras Mubarak

mmubarak79@yahoo.com

Ras Mubarak is a Broadcaster and Law Student.