Akenteng rejects $100,000 pay for Black Stars management committee

Veteran coach Francis Oti Akenteng has criticized the large incentives given to Black Stars Management Committee members.

He expressed his concerns while testifying before a Parliamentary Select Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism.

This comes after Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif revealed Ghana spent $3 million at the 2023 AFCON, despite exiting at the group stage.

Oti Akenteng questioned the reported $100,000 reward for each committee member during the 2022 World Cup, calling it excessive.

“If you look at some of their roles, it’s not bad except that you cannot be paying everybody like we are hearing, like I’m hearing that some people took $100,000 for being a member of the management committee. Probably the person attended meeting once or twice but he is a member of the Black Stars Management Committee. They are working, they must be remunerated but not to that extent.”

Also speaking to the Committee, the veteran coach called for the abolition of performance-based contracts for Ghana’s national football team coaches.

His concern comes on the back of Sports Minister, Mustapha Ussif, criticising junior national team coaches for complaining about unpaid salaries, despite agreeing to performance-based contracts.

He disagreed with Ussif’s assertion and believes using that form of contract awarding at the junior level promotes age cheating.

“It’s something that we need to take it out seriously. Coaches of the junior national teams…they’ve been picking senior players. If let’s say we are playing Under 17, they will take about (players aged) 20, 21, 22 because if they take the actual age to the tournament and they lost, that probably will be their end and that also brought a lot of corruption.”

As a former Technical Director of the Ghana Football Association, Oti Akenteng’s wealth of experience lends gravity to his critique of performance-based contracts, sparking vital discussion.