Nyantakyi rubbishes double payment claims over friendlies

President of the Ghana Football Association has clarified and rubbished claims that the Association was involved in a scheme to receive double claims for all friendlies played by the Black Stars since the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) became the headline sponsors of the team.

At an earlier appearance, at the Justice Dzamefe Commission investigating the circumstances surrounding the appearance of Ghana at the Brazil 2014 World Cup, of Alex Mould, Chief Executive Officer of the GNPC, some members of the Commission suggested that the FA was receiving double payments for friendlies the Black Stars were engaged in, since per their information, the Black Stars always received payments from Agents who organize the friendlies and also from GNPC.

This information provided by the Commissioners led to Mr. Alex Mould indicating that he will be shocked if that was indeed the case and had been kept from the knowledge of his outfit. He explained that ordinarily there was no issue if the GFA received monies from match agents even if the GNPC had financed it but said that the only issue is that if that happens, disclosure should be made to the Corporation.

Even before the Commission could bring it up on the second day of his appearance at the Commission, Nyantakyi pleaded with the Commission to be allowed to react to it since the wrong impression had been committed at the Commission.

The GFA Boss informed the commission that it was not all the friendlies Ghana was involved in that the GFA received monies from match agents on.

He noted that this was because the main objective for playing friendlies was not monetary but among others to give the coaches the opportunity to access players and tactics and improve ratings.

He cited a number of friendlies the GFA received no monies from match agents on and which the FA had to fund all by itself, without any sponsorship of whatsoever. These matches included Ghana vs Cape Verde, Ghana vs Nigeria in London, Ghana vs Togo and Ghana vs Turkey.

Kwasi Nyantakyi explained that there were only two matches the FA asked GNPC to fund. These matches he said were those against Turkey and Japan. He noted that the GFA asked the GNPC to fund the Turkey game because the FA was to receive no monies from playing that game.

On the second game against Japan, Nyantakyi explained that the GFA asked the GNPC to fund the cost of the friendly because the negotiated money with the match agent was less than the cost involved in playing the match and secondly, the money from the agent was to arrive only after the game had been played.

He emphatically stated that even though the GFA asked GNPC to sponsor the Ghana – Montenegro match, the GNPC eventually did not fund it and the GFA had to raise its own finances to fund that game.

He reiterated the point made by Alex Mould when he appeared at the Commission that per the contract the GFA can ask the GNPC to finance any friendly and that the only condition is that the GFA should make full disclosure if it receives any other payments from other sources.

He noted that this disclosure condition is satisfied by the GFA since the Association is required to furnish GNPC with its audited accounts at the end of the financial year in fulfilment of the disclosure clause in the GNPC – GFA Contract.

On the two friendlies played against the Netherlands and South Korea before the World Cup, Kwasi Nyantakyi informed the Commission that it was a Cabinet sub-committee decision to ask GNPC to fund those friendlies since there was the fear that payments from match agents could delay and jeopardize our World Cup Campaign.

The impression that the FA had been taking double payments on friendlies has been one of the issues, critics of the current administration have championed loudly since it came up at the Commission.