Ghana AFCON Budget: Ten Questions For Hon. Isaac Asiamah

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Isaac Asiamah, on Wednesday, briefed Parliament on the country's budget for the just-ended 2019 AFCON.

While his, was a good attempt, to tell the public how much the State spent budgeted and actually spent on the tourney, his presentation left many unconvinced, thus opening the space for more questions on the budget.

Myjoyonline.com put forward ten unanswered questions on the budget, which I find relevant:

• CAF caters to the needs of each team's players and technical team during the tournament. How many technical team members did team Ghana present?

• In 2017, the Black Stars were convinced to take a $5,000 winning bonus. Why couldn't we do same this time?

• CAF gave each participating nation $260K for preparation. Why was that amount not factored into the minister's presentation?

• Ghana won just a game but paid winning bonuses of over $965K for players. Does it mean each player got about $42K?

• Ghana has a culture of paying the Black Stars appearance fees before tournaments. Did it happen again? If so, how much?

• The minister's presentation said the $6.3m budget covered NINE categories of people, but the actual breakdown mentioned expenses incurred for only the players and technical team. What happened to expenses for the other seven groups?

• The entire Sports Ministry budget for 2019 is GHS 43m ($7.9m), but the AFCON budget alone was GHS 34m or $6.3m (representing 79% of the total amount). How does the state justify that expense when many other sports urgently need help?

• Joy Sports understands that the AFCON expenditure was taken from outside the sports ministry's budgetary allocation? What was the source of the money?

• Budgets, by definition, are presented before expenses are made. Why did parliament not demand this be done by the sports ministry before the AFCON?

• Who constitutes 'additional technical staff' in the minister's budget, and why are their per diem or winning bonus payments separate from 'Technical Staff’?

The Joy Sports team is of the view that the answers to these questions are critical to the future of Ghana's participation in subsequent sporting tournaments – not just football.

[I share the above view too].