The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has supported President John Dramani Mahama’s call for transparency regarding the budgets of various national teams.
In his State of the Nation (SONA) address last Thursday, President Mahama emphasised the need for national team budgets to be made public.
According to President Mahama, the GFA has to be accountable to the taxpayers and that budgets will not be shrouded in secrecy.
The GFA has acknowledged and supported calls made by President Mahama in relation to the budgeting and expenditure related to the Black Stars and all national teams.
“Indeed, as part of our commitment to transparency, the GFA has always provided the Ministry responsible for Sports with the first draft budget for the national teams.
“Beyond this, everything to do with the budgeting and expenditure related to the Black Stars sits with the Ministry. For emphasis, payments made in relation to the Black Stars are exclusively handled by the Ministry.
“We support the President’s call for the Ministry to deal transparently with the public regarding these matters and will willingly support the Ministry of Sports and Recreation to achieve this goal.”
The GFA also responded to President Mahama’s statement about the Black Stars being a pale shadow of their former glory.
“We acknowledge the President’s observation, during his presentation of the State of the Nation address, that the Black Stars’ failure to qualify for the AFCON is not reflective of the country’s football talent.
“Indeed, it is some comfort that Ghana sits at joint top of our World Cup qualifying group at the moment.
“It is for this reason that the Executive Council has taken some steps to strengthen the Management and Technical team of the Stars. We expect these interventions to reflect in our upcoming World Cup qualifiers in the month of March and also further on in the year,” the statement said.
The GFA also expressed their readiness to work with the Ministry of Sports and Recreation to actualise the dreams and aspirations of all Ghanaians.
GNA
