Former head coach for the Black Stars of Ghana, James Kwesi Appiah has recounted how ex-president John Dramani Mahama influenced his sacking from the team during his first stint.
The experienced gaffer was in charge of the senior national team of the West African country when they went to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
At the end of a tournament that spurred many controversies, coach Kwesi Appiah was subsequently shown the exit door.
In his book titled ‘Leaders Don’t Have To Yell’, the indigenous tactician has opened up the events that led to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) at the time relieving him of the position.
“Kwasi Nyantakyi called me to his office that day and informed me that he had been asked by the President of the nation to relieve me of my duties. When decisions about the national team staff became that heavily-politicized, it was very clear to me that the political machine was flexing its muscles to make me a scapegoat”, Appiah narrated.
He added, “The Minister for Youth and Sports who should bear the ultimate responsibility for the money issue that was at the heart of the Brazil problem was reassigned to another job in the President’s office but I was rather fired”.
He adds that though his lawyer convinced him that he can take legal action against the GFA, Kwesi Appiah opines that he rather chose to move on.
“Considering the order for my firing was to have come from the president that made it a fight I was not interested in. My lawyer and secondary school classmate Godfred Graham whom I conferred with regarding the termination of my appointment, was convinced that I had a strong case for further legal action. Even though I agreed with Graham’s position, I chose to close that chapter in order to move”.