'Gov't did not fly $200k to Rwanda for Black Stars'

The Sports Minister Dr. Mustapha Ahmed has revealed that no government official flew cash to Kigali, Rwanda, to pay the bonus of Black Stars players.

Reports were rife after Ghana beat Rwanda in the African Cup qualifier that despite the recommendations of the World Cup Commission that “Under NO circumstance should cash or cheques be issued” to the players, a government delegation led by the Sports Minister flew 200,000 dollars to Rwanda to pay the bonus of the players.

But describing the reports as inaccurate in an interview on Ephson’s File Friday on Starr 103.5FM, Dr. Ahmed said “We did not carry cash for the bonus of the Black Stars.

“The spending officer had money for our seven days stay in Rwanda. However, after our match with Congo, the coach decided we should spend some more days in Congo to train because the facilities were better than in Rwanda. “

“We ended up spending only two days in Rwanda, thus we had some savings from the five days we did not spend in the five days”.

Dr. Ahmed further clarified that after “the agitations for the bonus started, the spending officer, without approval used the unused monies saved from the Rwanda trip to pay them”.

The comments by the Sports Minister, however, contradicts statements by the deputy sports minister Vincent Oppong Asamoah who justified the decision to fly cash to Rwanda to pay the players.