On 8th July, 2019, Ghana’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) dreams were shattered. Mubarak Wakaso shed tears at the press conference and Kwesi Appiah’s second stint seemed to have come to an end.
Surprisingly, he was allowed to keep his role and guided the senior national team to back-to-back wins in the AFCON 2021 qualifiers against South Africa and Sao Tome. The future for the former Al Khartoum manager was however bleak.
Appiah’s contract reportedly ended in December 2019 by the GFA and his assistant, CK Akonnor, was named the next head coach of the senior national team in January. Fans were mostly happy with the decision, especially on Kwesi Appiah’s removal.
The coach has however been treated unfairly by the Normalization Committee and the Ghana Football Association on the money aspect.
THE CONTRACT CONFUSION
Footballghana.com sources have discovered that Kwesi Appiah’s contract originally ended right after the AFCON in July and no extension was made. He was left in limbo for five months before he was officially let go. It is also interesting to note that during those five months, he had not seen any pay.
The 59 year old was still allowed to perform his duties as coach during that period. He was allowed to bring new players into the team for matches. He was also given the room to appoint CK Akonnor as his assistant and was allowed to coach the senior national team in the AFCON 2021 qualifiers.
It is understood that the Kurt Okraku administration was in power at the time and this begs a few questions. Why did the Normalization Committee fail to officially let him go before the new GFA started work? Why did they allow him to perform his duties without a contract? Why has he been denied the winning bonuses he duly earned with the Black Stars? So many questions which deserves answers.
THE AFTERMATH OF THE CONTRACT
Footballghana.com discovered that the Ghana Football Association wrote to Kwesi Appiah instructing him to return the official belongings he was given when he started his head coach role. The coach did not hesitate to following the instructions.
After that was out of the way, Appiah wrote back to the FA asking of his salary, something he is duly entitled to but did not receive a reply. That happened on two occasions. It has been five months since he left the post, making it ten months since he last received any pay.
The argument from the FA is that the ministry usually pays the coaches money. If that is the case, why was Kwesi Appiah’s arrears added to their ‘Legacy debt’ document?
The former coach countered the point from the FA stating that he was brought on board by the Football Association and not the ministry so the ball falls on the court of the FA to settle that obligation in his mind.
THE UNNECESSARY EXPENSES
Since the Ghana Football Association came into power once again, they have made some notable payments. The biggest and most admirable ones were the loans given to Ghana Football clubs and some salaries given to referees. However, there have been some terrible ones.
Footballghana.com understands that the GFA general secretary, Prosper Harrison Addo received a new car for his role in the association. The car in question was ordered from abroad at a huge fee. Was that a real priority?
The cars recently bought by the Ghana Football Association were re-sprayed just to incur more costs according to Kwaku Osei Palmer. Was it needful at all?
The Ghana Football Association made terrible decisions here considering that Kwesi Appiah is yet to receive his salary.
Also, the association recently announced that they had to do some renovation of their headquarters ahead of the rainy season. It is a curious one because the GFA renovated the office not too long ago because they wanted to sweep for bugs and other eavesdropping tools.
What makes the situation more curious is the fact that Dr Kofi Amoah, the chairman of the Normalization committee also spent money on the renovation of the GFA headquarters. Did the NC not do a proper job with the renovation then? Were these constant expenditures really necessary? All these go against Kwesi Appiah, a coach who did his job and did not see his pay.
All these trigger some major questions; Who should really be faulted for the mess with James Kwesi Appiah? Should the FA be paying the former Black Stars coach or the ministry? We can conclude here that Appiah has been hugely disrespected and it is the hope that it does not happen with any other local coach again.