Sports Minister Says $3M Was Spent On AFCON

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, says his outfit spent US$3,070,067.81 on the Black Stars’ campaign in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament which ended in the group stage.

The Minister who was spared from a reshuffle by the President, however, said $8,506,450.00 was budgeted to cover the pre-tournament and the Tournament Phases of the team.

He made the revelation when he appeared before Parliament on Wednesday, February 14, 204.

“Mr Speaker, our estimated budget for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations tournament was $8,506,450.00 to cater for the team’s pre-tournament and the Tournament Phases (group stages, 1/16 stage, quarter-final, semi-final and final).”

Out of the total amount of the budget, he said, the finance Minister released US$5,071,840.36 to the Ministry with US$3,070,067.81 spent on per diems, flight arrangements for the team, medicals, equipment, logistics and hospitality.

“This resulted in a surplus of $2,001,772.55, after our exit from the tournament,” he added.

The Member of Parliament North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who first brought the budget to the public domain has criticized the Ministry.

“Instructively, Ghana’s US$ 3 million expenditure for our calamitous group exit is more than the entire tournament budget for Namibia, Zambia and Nigeria who all did better than Ghana,” he said in a Facebook post calling for an “urgent consequential action to redeem the sordid situation”.

The Blacks Stars put up an unsatisfactory performance in the AFCON, which saw them exit the tournament for the second time in a row at the group stage.

The team failed to win any of their three group games and ended with two points from a loss and two draws.