Ghana minister for youths and sports Hon. Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye on Thursday 22 found time off his busy schedule to engage members of “Football Africa Arena” in a rare question and answer session that lasted over an hour.
The straight shooting former footballer and boxer responded without mincing his words to weighty matters as fielded by the members of the forum, including; his perceived bumpy relationship with the Ghana Football Federation (GFA) and his purported meddling in the running of “Black Stars” among others.
On his frosty relationship with GFA and if the government will rally behind its boss Kwesi Nyantakyi who is gunning for FIFA council membership post, here’s what he said,
“My relationship with every human being and any institution has been based on principles of truth, fairness and honesty. These are values I was brought up as Christian to uphold and cherish,”
“I don’t dabble in personalities but Mr. Nyantakyi has been found culpable by a White Paper on the commission report. He is in court fighting it. He has not been perfect and as human I understand. He has done well in qualifying Ghana to the world cup severally. But our football from the national teams level to the local level is suffering and in coma. No grassroots development plan for years. What benefits are there if we always qualified for the world cup and local league, clubs and colts football are destroyed. When there is so much corruption in the local league.”
The Accra born governance and leadership Masters holder went ahead to state that his ministry is consulting with security agencies on the matter of corruption in the Ghana Premier League (GPL).
“Soon you will see what will happen. I have been talking to club representatives as well. I also think it is ingenious to club owners for club owners and administrators to also be running the football federation. The administration of our football should be devoid of conflict of interests. It must be professional and for people with the requisite knowledge and qualifications. Club owners are stakeholders. How can people be judges in their own cases?” he posed.
Wa All Stars, a local football club associated with Kwesi are the 2016 Ghana Premier League winners.
Lante made it clear that the budget on football is outrageous and not sustainable. The government caused uproar when they admitted they spend close to a million dollars when the Black Stars are on national duty.
“The budget on our football is outrageous and not sustainable. It has deprived the other sporting disciplines of funding and strangled them to near extinction. We are not a football nation but a sports nation,”
“I am not happy also with the policy of paying winning bonus for footballers and nothing to boxers, athletes and others. Are they not Ghanaians doing sports for Ghana? I am changing this too. We are going to propose an amount, fixed amount to be paid to any Ghanaian, who defends the flag at various levels. If we agreed that we pay x amount at the continental level, so be it for everyone whether you are Messi or Phelps.”
He holds that federations must be held to account for every tax payers’ money the get from the government, and it shouldn’t amount to interference according to FIFA.
“You cannot claim independence when your mouth is in somebody’s pocket. If we fund the teams with the tax payer’s money then I must make sure there is prudence and also judicious use of resources. When certain expenditures cannot be justified, I would be going to face the public accounts Committee of Parliament and not those people.”
“FIFA is not bigger than Ghana. FIFA is an organization we decided to join. They don’t own our National teams and cannot decide for us how to manage our teams. If they want to run our teams then the FA can send their budgets to them. We are a sovereign state. We gained political independence in 1957,”
“Gone are the days when people would think they can frighten sovereign countries with FIFA’s so called sanctions. I believe in building my country’s sports in a sustainable, enduring and principled manner. No international body would ascribe to me what to do. They say they give money to the GFA and no one has the right to ask how those monies are utilized. Great! Do they also reserve the right and power to dictate to us how monies we, governments also give to the FA’s should be accounted for?” he posed again.
Still on Black Stars, the Member of Parliament has vowed that the thorny issue of Black Stars’ allowances that led to an embarrassing stand off during the Brazil World Cup in 2014 will not re-occur.
“We have always had problems with releases from the Ministry of Finance. But the whole Brazil thing was not handled well and there were people who wanted to take advantage of the situation. I am trying my best to make sure it never reoccurs. But let’s also ask the question, whether it is patriotic and right for footballers to behave in that manner. Any player who shows such indiscipline before, during and after any game would be summarily sacked from the team. I would not countenance indiscipline in any form. Let’s always respect authority and use legitimate channels to address our problems.”
He observed that when it comes to sports financing in Africa, the continent must start viewing the sport as a business and nothing less.
“Sports financing in Africa is a problem because we have always seen it as a Public or Social good without direct economic benefits. We until sometime now especially in West Africa not see it as a business and an integrated economic activity. We need to create a beautiful synergy with the Private and Corporate world to fund sports for mutual benefit.”
-Football Africa Arena (FAA) is a Whatsapp group that brings together the biggest minds in African football for the good of the African game.
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