Muntaka: “Quit paying Black Stars bonus packages”

Ex-Sports Minister, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak expects government to quit paying bonus packages to the Black Stars to revive the lost sense of patriotism and flush out money conscious players from the senior national team.

Prior to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, the Black Stars players met with the team’s management committee members to deliberate over government’s initial decision to pay the players $5,000 per game at the AFCON 2015.

Few days after the player-management meeting, the Stars accepted to report to the pre-tournament camping, leading to the confirmation by Vice Chairman of the Black Stars management committee Kudjoe Fianoo that the players would be paid a qualification bonus of $30,000.

Between 2006 and 2015, the Black Stars winning bonuses have moved from $2,000 to between $5000 and $10,000. But, Muntaka Mohammed insists it is wrong for money-conscious players who negotiate for bonus packages to be handed places in the Black Stars.

“One of the things we have to do is to announce to the players that no bonus will be paid for playing for the Black Stars. We should only pay them a reasonable amount of money to express our gratitude when they impress in games so that we won’t have any monetary negotiations with the players. If you want to play, you can play and if not, then exempt yourself from the squad,” Muntaka told Accra-based Hot FM this week.

The Member of Parliament for Asawase has also hit out at the Ghana FA stating that most of its officials are only eager to become members of the Black Stars management committee just to use the senior national team as a money making venture.

“The greed for money has gone a long way to affect the GFA. With all due respect, even those who want to be on the management committee of the team, go there because of money,” he claimed.