Ghanaians cry for Coach Appiah

Over the last two weeks, a series of revelations on money chopping and frivolous spending involving public officials and other quasi government institutions have dominated the media landscape.

Apart from the misuse and misapplication of state resources during the country’s participation in the recent World Cup tournament hosted in Brazil which is being made public by the protagonists and beneficiaries of the booty appearing before the Justice Senyo Dzamefe’s Commission, other acts which border on the ‘rape’ of the state coffers have also emerged.

There was this issue of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) undertaking a training programme in aviation where each board member benefitted from $10,000 largesse.

Another heart-breaking news was the case involving the Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ms Lauretta Lamptey, who it has been alleged had spent over $203,500 on accommodation over a period of 37 months even though the commission claimed to be cash-strapped.

Now the current issue pending, which is likely to cause the state some huge financial loss, is the dismissal of the coach of the senior national team, Dr Kwasi Appiah, by the Ghana Football Association (GFA), headed by Lawyer Kwesi Nyantakyi.

The circumstances leading to the termination of the two-year contract between Coach Appiah and the GFA, which was successfully renewed, is bizarre.

Sadly, many Ghanaians saw that action looming when the GFA started bundling the idea of hiring a technical advisor to assist the Black Stars’ coach.

What is unfolding now between the former coach and his employers is enough testimony of the shabby treatment employers mete out to their Ghanaian employees.

In most cases, employers cast in the mould of the GFA leadership would not dare treat any expatriate the way Coach Appiah had suffered in their hands.

My beef is that a lot of lessons have been learnt since the issue of judgement debt became prominent in our political discourse where party apparatchiks argue on which administration paid out most judgement debt under strange circumstances.

It is my estimation that the unprofessional way some issues were handled, which culminated in judgement debts, had been the source of apprehension among the citizenry, who feel men placed at the helm of affairs should be guided by these kinds of things to act with circumspect and take wise decisions whenever they are dealing with individuals, organisations and other interest groups with contractual agreements.

At least, the GFA, which counts itself lucky to have a president with a legal background, should have known better and treaded cautiously before deciding to dispense with the services of Coach Appiah.

Now, there are speculations all over the place in the court of public opinion about the level of compensation that would be paid to Coach Appiah. Various colossal figures are being quoted, and one wonders whether it is reasonable to dole out this huge monetary compensation to an individual just like that.

Actually, the news is that the GFA was yet to hold a meeting with the legal representative of the coach to mutually agree on a figure to be paid as compensation. No matter the outcome of that meeting, the fact still remains that Coach Appiah has been mistreated, and he has to be compensated.

We all know how difficult things have been with the management of the economy to the extent that some statutory payments to some institutions and bodies, as well as the arrears owed some professional groups, have had to be negotiated and paid in instalments.

Why then should the GFA act recklessly and inflict this financial burden on an economy that is already facing challenges.

The concerns of majority of Ghanaians crying for Coach Appiah about this ill-fated decision are diverse but I know that most of them, when given the opportunity to make a suggestion in handling this dicey issue, would recommend that the GFA be made to pay this compensation package from its own resources and not from state coffers.

I also think the GFA has not conducted itself professionally in its dealings with Coach Appiah and therefore the leadership have to bow out on their own volition to avoid any ignominy.