Will the Sports Minister also Cut His Salary and Allowances by Half?

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

Garden City, New York

Jan. 1, 2015

E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net

The decision to reduce by as much as 50-percent bonuses awarded players of our senior national soccer team, the Black Stars, is one that ought to raise eyebrows among all lovers of Ghanaian soccer, especially on the international level (See “It’s My Wish to Slash Stars’ Bonuses – Sports Minister” Goal.com / Ghanaweb.com 1/1/16). According to the Sports Minister, Dr. Mustapha Ahmed, this decision has become necessary because of the general economic hardship in the country and the ministry’s budgetary constraints.

I am not an avid fan of any major sporting activity, but I have always felt very proud whenever the Black Stars have acquitted themselves on the global stage. Currently, we are told that every team member of the Black Stars gets paid a bonus of $10,000 (Ten-Thousand US Dollars) for every match that the team wins. It is not clear to me, however, whether the said amount is paid to all selected team members, irrespective of whether an individual player actually gets to play in a particular match or game. We also don’t know if these players are paid any bonuses for matches that the team draws or loses, and if so how much they are each paid. We also need to be let in on exactly how much the coach of the Black Stars and his assistants and technical team get individually paid, and also whether any of these personnel are on a regular salaried income or payroll.

We have a right to be let in on the foregoing because the Black Stars is a public enterprise owned and operated by the Government and people of Ghana. the last time that I wrote to demand that the salary of Coach Avram Grant be published in the national media, somebody wrote back to say that for contractual protocol reasons, as well as in order not to make Mr. Grant’s salary and perks an unnecessarily distractive political debate, it was imperative that the deal with the renowned Israeli-born coach was kept confidential. Well, I still find this lack of contractual transparency to be inexcusably absurd. It also makes it hard for Dr. Ahmed to be taken at his word that the Sports Ministry is experiencing considerable financial strictures such as to warrant a drastic reduction in bonuses paid our national soccer players.

I would, however, agree with the Sports Minister only if such percentage of bonuses as would be taken away from the Black Stars’ players would be plowed / ploughed into the budget for our amateur athletes and sports men and women, who have been widely known to have been routinely and flagrantly afforded short-shrift treatment by our sports authorities. It also goes without saying that the operation of the Sports Ministry could do with a heavy dosage of managerial and fiscal discipline, in terms of the number of match officials and other para-professionals allowed to accompany the team on international travels and tournaments. We also need to review precisely how the current bonus figure of $10,000 per player was arrived at, in view of the fact that having such bonuses so drastically reduced clearly does not seem to have taken into account the high level of inflation in the country. Then also, such measure may well considerably undermine the morale of these hardworking players.

The fact that the overwhelming majority of the Black Stars’ players have had international exposure and are multimillionaires ought not to determine the decision by Dr. Ahmed to drastically reduce their per-match-winner bonuses. After all, these players are contract workers who do not have the privilege of having their earnings meticulously and wisely spread out over regular intervals, such as pertains to the Ghanaian civil servant, and the latter’s attendant salary regimes of health and retirement plans and benefits. These professional soccer players have to hire and personally pay for their own financial managers and accountants.

In the end, though, what matters here most, as already stated at the beginning of this article, is the need for the Sports Ministry to first publicly exhibit transparency and accountability in the way it handles the people’s business. Then also, I am assuming that the $10,000 flat-rate bonuses awarded the players of the Black Stars is squarely based on match revenue or box-office receipts and other FIFA-regulated incomes and benefits. If this observation has validity, then Dr. Ahmed has more explaining to do beyond cavalierly complaining about budgetary constraints at his ministry.