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Kwesi Nyantakyi made an encore on Wednesday at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on his second appearance.
Day 29 covered weightier matters involving Black Stars’ preparation for the World Cup, financials involved in the entire Brazil 2014 effort, and matters related to team discipline.
But before then, Citi FM got a mention.
Controversy begins
The FA boss was first asked to clarify his religious status.
This is after his decision to swear by the Quran during his first appearance on Tuesday raised eyebrows as people were under the impression that he is a Christian.
Further checks by the Citi Sports desk also revealed that he also attended the Trinity Baptisit Church even though he was raised as a Muslim.
He expressed his displeasure at the Commission’s decision to make him swear for the second time.
“In the Court of law, will you subject me to this kind of treatment?I don’t feel fairly treated with all due respect. I read this on citifmonline.com yesterday that you are going to this. If you like I will open it. I am not saying you told somebody but what you are doing is not any different from what is in the media.”
A member of the Commission Moses Foh Amoaning also took offense by the accusations from Mr. Nyantakyi.
“I am very, very offended by the position that president of the FA has taken on the basis of an online information and presuming that the question that I asked was in fulfillment of a strategy…I feel personally very offended by the position that he has taken.”
The tone was truly set for the day.
Video of Kwesi Nyantakyi swearing by the Qu’ran on Tuesday
The bonus matter
Kwesi Nyantakyi told the Dzamefe Commission that no management committee member assured the Black Stars players of $100,000 in appearance fees.
This was in response to speculation that management members of the GFA influenced the players to demand such sums since it would mean an increase in their own honorariums.
In an exchange with Justice Dzamefe, Mr. Nyantakyi said he would be stunned if any management member gave a thumbs up to the amount.
Justice Dzamefe: “Were the boys assured, not necessarily by you, but by some of your management members?”
Nyantakyi: “No, my Lord, to the best of my knowledge, because you see, these increases in appearance fees have a spiral effect. From 2006, there was an increase by 50 percent in 2010, then 33.4 percent (increment) as demanded by players (for 2014) and we asked where this was going to stop.
“Every World Cup came with an increase and there had to be a way to manage it, coupled with a certain impression that the management was the one instigating players to demand higher appearance fees.
“The question you just asked about my awareness of any of my management members promising players $100,000 was because there were rumours saying that more money for players meant higher honorariums for management members.
“There were government officials with the team in Montenegro (in March 2014) and they knew that the players were asking for $100,000 in appearance fees.
“One such official, [member of parliament’s sub-committee on Youth and Sports] Hon. Kojo Adu-Asare, asked the players to take $90,000 and that he could defend the amount before the Chief of Staff but the players rejected it.”
Justice Dzamefe: “So will you be surprised now if you are shown a document that suggested the players were assured that they would take $100,000 at the World Cup?”
Nyantakyi: “I will be surprised. Written by who?”
Justice Dzamefe:”No, no. It’s just a question.”
Nyantakyi: “I will be so much surprised, my Lord.”
Justice Dzamefe: “In Ghana, before they left…”
Nyantakyi: “I see. I will be surprised, my Lord.”
Justice Dzamefe: “We leave it at that.”
“Cabinet were aware”
The three-man commission heard from Nyantakyi that the cabinet of Ghana knew of the stalemate over appearance fees before a final decision was taken to approve the proposed $82,500.
Per the account of the FA boss, on February 5 this year the players were told about the proposed figure through team captain Asamoah Gyan.
Nyantakyi: “The $82,500 appearance fee was for the first three group games [against USA, Germany, and Portugal.]”
The players rejected the proposed sum and said they wanted $100,000 for the group stages. This is what has come to be known as appearance fees.
According to Nyantakyi, a meeting was then called on March 4.
“This was between the FA and the players on the one hand, and two representatives of the Presidency–Adu Asare and a Minister of State at the Presidency, Mustapha Ahmed, ahead of the Montenegro friendly over the matter.”
He went on: “The meeting ended in a stalemate as the players stood their ground to demand $100,000 while the FA and government representatives begged them to accept the $82,500. After the team returned from Montenegro, the Chief of Staff was immediately briefed on the stalemate and the demands of the players.”
Then on March 13, the FA and Ministry of Youth & Sports officials met Cabinet and attempted to explain and justify the proposed budget for Brazil.
Nyantakyi said: “At the Cabinet, we did not hide that fact of the players’ demand of $100,000 and Cabinet said all we could afford was $82,500. So Cabinet knew that the players were demanding $100,000.
“There was little the GFA could do. We continued discussions with them hoping they would understand and accept the $82,500 but they didn’t.”
Fifa bailout
Mr. Nyantakyi also revealed that world football governing body, Fifa, was not averse to the idea of helping the GFA with some money in Brazil when Ghana’s players threatened to boycott training ahead of the final group match against Portugal.
But Zurich wanted to receive contracts between the GFA and the players and their respective bank account details first in order to effect payment.
However, according to Nyantakyi, the players simply said no.
Nyantakyi: “We were late for our match against Portugal and so on our way to the airport, we got calls from FIFA that we had kept the aircraft waiting for us. They said if we had no probable and reasonable explanation to give, we would be referred to the Disciplinary Committee. So, we had to tell FIFA what the problem was and based on that, we wrote a letter to FIFA to ask for a bailout.
Foh-Amoaning: (jokingly) “Not an IMF bailout?”
Nyantakyi: “No, not IMF bailout. This was Fifa bailout.
We asked them to bail us out because were in serious difficulties and we cited the Togo experience in 2006 and that if Fifa did not intervene, the players were going to boycott training and that could also undermine the integrity of football.
That was when Fifa demanded two things: contracts between the federation and the players and the bank details of the players to which the monies would be lodged.”
Foh-Amoaning: “So clearly, Fifa had laid down the marker in terms of contracts and payment through a bank. Can you give us the letters stating these things?”
Nyantakyi: “Yes. We have them. They were emails from FIFA. But the players rejected the bank transfer option and said they wanted cash.
At this point, I went to the General Secretary of FIFA, Jerome Valcke, since he was my friend and I asked him if he could get us cash but he said doing that would cost him his head.
We wanted USD 2.3 million to pay USD 100,000 to 23 players.”
Justice Dzamefe: “So you’re saying that the players refused the offer to be paid through the bank?”
Nyantakyi: “Yes, my Lord. They refused to give their account details because they wanted the payments in cash.”
Double payments clarified
The Ghana FA boss said his outfit never received double payment in friendlies involving the Black Stars since the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) took over as headline sponsors of the Black Stars.
This comes weeks after acting head of the GNPC, Alex Mould, said the claim will come as a surprise to him if confirmed.
“The agents pay for some of [the games], not all. Some of them the agents will tell you that ‘look, there is this opponent to play but there’s no money in it’.
“You have to bear your own airfare and other incidental expenses if you decide whether to play or not. Ghana has played in many, many matches without match agents paying…Ghana-Nigeria, we haven’t received any money. Ghana – Togo, no money. GNPC has sponsored some of our matches [like] Ghana – Turkey, and Ghana – Japan. And [in the case of] Ghana – Japan, we received match fees after the match.”
The FA capo explained that warm-up games were not done for cash benefits but, among other reasons, to give the coaches the opportunity to assess players and improve ratings.
Also, Nyantakyi said even though the GFA asked GNPC to sponsor Ghana vs Montenegro match last March, his outfit ended up paying up.
Per the contract with the GNPC, he said, the Ghana FA can ask the state firm to pay for any friendly with a conditional clause that the FA will make full disclosure if it receives any other payments from elsewhere.
Ghana played two friendlies with the Netherlands and South Korea before the World Cup, and the Commission was told that GNPC funded them under orders from a cabinet sub-committee. The reason for this was that there was the fear that payments from match agents could delay, which destabilise Ghana’s World Cup plans.
Background to the “Muntari cancer”
Nyantakyi described in vivid detail what happened in the infamous battle between AC Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari and Moses “Mospacka” Armah Parker.
Nyantakyi told the attentive audience that “this was a very serious moment for [the FA]”.
The background, per the FA boss, was that the players had become extremely agitated after government officials delayed the payment of by-now agreed $100,000 appearance fees.
Asamoah Gyan led players in requesting a meeting with the GFA to discuss the issue. Nyantakyi said the FA officials waited for one and a half hours after the stipulated 10pm.
And then the meeting started.
“They began with a litany of complaints. The players felt unhappy about the condition of their five star hotel in Miami, USA where they stayed before flying over to Brazil.
“They complained about the state of the rooms in their hotel in Natal, Brazil. The issue was addressed. The players went on to complain about the condition of their airplane, saying the plane was over 50 years old and not suitable for their safety and comfort.”
All this while, tension was building. It finally snapped when delays of payment of players’ appearance fees had to be addressed.
Nyantakyi revealed that Muntari launched two separate attacks against Armah Parker, first picking up a chair to club him during the meeting and next flinging a glass bottle at the FA member in a room, later.
“Before we could say jack, he got up from his seat and released one blow. Then the second one was released. I was surprised. I have never seen this kind of thing before!”
The former Portsmouth man then warned that “Moses must leave the hotel, otherwise he will follow him wherever he goes.”
The GFA boss said he had to hold the chair Sulley had swung behind him to prevent the player from landing a deadly blow. And the later, he [Nyantakyi] had to block the glass bottle with his arm while using his body to shield Armah.
“Monstrous” Muntari
Sulley made sure his threat was not idle, and went down to the concierge to find which room Moses Parker could be found in.
It was room 208.
By this time, a Brazilian security detail guarded Moses’ door, but the GFA President said Sulley still broke into the room.
In the room, Sulley was restrained by Alhaji Lartey and Felix Ansong, both FA officials. He dealt with them both.
“Sulley hit Alhaji Lartey’s head against a wardrobe, brushed Felix and then he moved in to face Moses Parker, who had been shielded by my body.”
Muntari’s doggedness saw him look round, snatch a glass bottle and “in a moment of unexplained madness, Sulley aimed the glass at Moses, which I intercepted and as a result suffered a cut from the glass bottle.”
Only Jonathan Mensah, the commission heard, intervened to restrain the “monstrous” Sulley Muntari.
|All this while the security officials and GFA officials were still lying down motionless. They “defended themselves by lying on the floor. I think it was a defensive tactics.”
Muntari, KPB sacking and no apology
Nyantakyi then went to how the veteran player was sacked.
“The security officers of Brazil insisted on arresting Sulley Muntari and prosecuting him in their law courts so management had to respond immediately by taking a swift and a quick decision.
“We met the coaches, the technical team people and the following day – that was the eve of the [Portugal] match – and had to take a decision immediate. Because if we condone one act of indiscipline it spreads like a cancer and eats up the whole team.”
The FA boss noted that the team’s junior players were asking what would be done to the player since they felt that swift action would have been meted out to them if they had instigated such an attack.
“At that time, Kevin-Prince Boateng had already had a problem with the coach and with the benefit of hindsight if we had maybe dealt with Kevin there it may have abated the spread of indiscipline up to what Sulley did.”
Speaking on ghost names
Nyantakyi later went ahead to clarify some of the highlights of his appearance yesterday where it appeared “ghost names” received payments as management team members, when Ghana participated in the 2014 world cup.
On the issue of how five management members received payments meant for seven people, he said the figure 7 presented to cabinet as the number of management committee members to receive appearance fees did not apply in “practical sense.”
“Seven is a co- efficient, a reference number and it is not a standard number for all the teams, it varies from team that is why we have just one person signing it. If it is for seven people, then seven people must sign for it “
“The reference to a figure 7 is just a coefficient or a reference number. It could be five, it could be four.”
He also explained that over 20 people including officials from the Ministry of Youth and Sports were also beneficiaries of the appearance fees of over $500,000.
“Management encompases the management committee, the secretariat and every other person who has played one role or the other towards the success of the team so it includes people within and outside the FA.”
Thursday will see Mr. Nyantakyi make a third appearance.
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By: Gary Al-Smith, Nathan Quao and Marian Efe Ansah/Citifmonline.com/Ghana