Gov’t justifies flying cash to pay Black Stars in Rwanda

The Deputy Sports Minister Vincent Oppong Asamoah has defended government’s decision to airlift cash to the Rwandan capital, Kigali, for the payment of the Black Stars bonuses ahead of their 2017 AFCON qualifier against Rwanda on September 5.

The act is in contradiction with government’s own rule in the White Paper on the Brazil 2014 World Cup that monies should never be airlifted to any tournament for the payment of remuneration of national teams or persons after investigations into the Brazil saga.

“We can’t throw the Commission’s recommendation away because some of the recommendations was that we could use the Embassies.

"We would definitely have to transfer monies to other countries (for the payment of bonuses) but the quantum may not be as high as what happened in Brazil. Because, it has always been like that $100,000 and $200,000 to enable the team to survive over there.

"How do you feed the team? They expect you to pay cash so how can you do things differently? That is the rule over there and all other countries are doing it,” Asamoah told Starr Sports.

Black Stars beat the Amavubi’s by 1-0 after thrashing Mauritius 7-1 to lead the group with six points.