‘Don’t focus on money’

Sports Minister, Dr. Mustapha Ahmed, has called on sports men and women to always think of the bigger glory and not money.

“Money is not everything even though you will need it: that should not be your priority,” he advised.

He said this on the question of how the Black Queens were treated regarding their bonuses and money due them at the 40th Edition of the MTN Sports Writers Association (SWAG) Awards held at the Banquet Hall of the State House at the weekend.

According to him, he and the team agreed to pay the girls 2,000 US Dollars on winning gold for the country in this year’s All African Games held in Congo Brazzaville adding that he did not understand why there was that agitations from the team.

To him, those monies the girls were demanding for were not monies that his administration owed them but debts that had accrued over the years in previous administration which was too much for the government and the ministry to pay because they did not have that money available.

In answering how the Black Stars get preferential treatment when it comes to their monies, the Minister explained that for the Black Stars they have sponsors and most of their tournaments have prizes monies.

He explained therefore that sometimes the handlers of the team take the risk and go for loan to pay the players since they know one way or the other, they will surely get the money from FIFA or CAF who organise those tournaments.

He said, however, in the case of the Black Queens and most of the other tournaments, there is medal awards and not prize money so it becomes difficult to treat both the same

He said for them, they have to take money from the Ministry which most often than not puts strain on the Ministry coffers because they would have to attend to the needs of the various sporting disciplines.

In an interview with him, the honourable Minister disclosed that he had planned to talk to President John Dramani Mahama when the team goes to present the winning trophy to him at the seat of government for the president to top up the 2,000 us dollars the ministry had budgeted for the team to be presented to the players.

When asked where the communication went wrong, the Minister said “I cannot tell exactly where the communication went wrong”.

Dr. Mustapha Ahmed advised up and coming sports men and women and those already in the game to always think of the opportunities and fame given to them when sent to competitions and the benefits they will get and not always fight over money, since money should not be their main priority.