Tell us about the 2019 AFCON budget

It appears for the first time in the history of Ghana, we went to an AFCON tournament without Ghanaians knowing the exact amount of money that the country spent on the Black Stars of Ghana. As of this moment, The Ministry of Youth and Sports is yet to reveal the details of the budget or even tell us the exact amount earmarked for the team and the tournament.

Before the team left for their Pre-Afcon Campaign in Dubai, there were reports making the rounds about a certain $8M being the budget which was immediately denied by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Sports Ministry in a statement.

The Statement reads,

“I can say that there is no budget approved yet or in place for the AFCON. There is a delegation currently in Abu Dhabi trying to get a camping facility for the national team, so there is no way we would have come up with a budget once that is not even sorted yet.

“Once everything is concluded and is appropriate, we would communicate to the good people of Ghana how much budget has been presented or approved,” it added.

Ghanacrusader is learning that the Ministry of Youth and Sports refused to tell Ghanaians about the budget because revealing it may shift the attention of Ghanaians from throwing their unflinching support behind the Black Stars and resort to the talking of the budget in the media. All efforts to reach the Ministry to react to these reports proved futile.

Speculations are rife that there may be something fishy about the entire budget for which reason the Ministry remains tight-lipped about it until today

The team will arrive in the country today after their round of 16 elimination, having lost to Tunisia on penalties in this year’s Cup of Nations. It may just be the appropriate time for the Ministry to do what they promised before they left for Egypt.

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah should come clear on this issue of the AFCON budget.