GNPC Board to meet over Kwesi Appiah’s unpaid salary

The Public Relations Officer of the Youth and Sports Ministry, Elvis Adjei-Baah, has confirmed that Board Member of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC),will meet later this week in an attempt to resolve the bottlenecks that are preventing the state agency from paying the salary of Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah.

GNPC, who are the headline sponsors of the Black Stars, are by their sponsorship contract with the Ghana Football Association, expected to pay the salaries of coach Kwesi Appiah and his assistants, but an impasse between high profile persons in Ghana’s Parliament, GNPC and the GFA, has led to delays in paying all the technical team members of the senior national team.

Appiah, who was appointed coach of the senior national team in April and started work on May 1, has not received any form of remuneration or salary.

The same applies to the like of Stephen Appiah, Ibrahim Tanko, and Maxwell Konadu, who are all part of Kwesi Appiah’s backroom staff.

The GFA has responded to queries about the situation by stating that payment of the coaches’ salary is the duty of GNPC/Sports Ministry.

Speaking on Accra-based Joy FM, EAdjei-Baah who speaks for the Sports Ministry, said his outfit has been informed that the board of GNPC will meet to resolve the impasse.

“We are hopeful that a solution to this situation will be found soon. I can confirm to you that the Board of GNPC will meet this week to solve the problem.” The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation has been sponsoring the Black Stars for the last four years in a deal worth $3 million a year.

But since the change of government, it is believed that the top brass of the state-owned oil exploration firm have been questioned about the financial viability of the sponsorship package to the national team.

It is a well documented fact that Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has been championing for the cancellation of the deal since the new government took office.

“A Committee of Parliament – Mines and Energy – met with the GNPC over their annual budgetary allocation and the committee pointed out to them that their sponsorship of the Black Stars and its supporters was not worthwhile,” he told Kumasi-based Nhyira FM.

“They asked them to focus on their core duties of oil exploration. One-third of the country’s oil revenue is what is given to GNPC. Last year, they received over $230 million.

“The GNPC has factored it in its budget and omitted the sponsorship allocation.” The GFA and Sports Ministry are understood to be lobbying those who matter to ensure that GNPC continues its support to the national team, since there are no major sponsors of the Black Stars at the moment.