Grace Ashly has revealed that she was never paid by Kwesi Nyantakyi-led Ghana Football Association (GFA) for her cheer songs for the senior national male football team, the Black Stars.

Rather, she revealed, she enjoyed occasional kindness from “two or three” people, including political and national leaders.

According to her, before his demise, the late Ghanaian international star winger Christian Atsu had shown concern and intention to do right by her.

Grace Ashly spoke on Accra 100.5 FM’s midmorning show Ayekoo Ayekoo, Tuesday, October 17, 2023.

She answered, “Yes,” when sit-in host Akua Sonto asked if she released a song for the late Christian Atsu.

She clarified she never said Atsu had once been a benefactor.

“I said I had spoken to him but at the point I was supposed to meet him, I travelled,” she added.

Ashly said when she returned from her trip, it was not long before Atsu died in Turkey due to an earthquake that occurred on February 6.

Akua Sonto wondered why Ashly recorded and released a song for the former Black Star player.

“Someone had accused the Black Stars of doing nothing for me despite my immense support for them, to which he responded: ‘Oh, Ma Grace, I’ll go see her’,” she explained, noting that the accuser was with Atsu when they spoke on the phone.

According to Ashly, Atsu told her he frequently heard people rebuke Black Stars players for not extending any kindness to her in light of her popular and powerful cheer songs which rallied support for them, egged them on in tough games and sound-tracked their victories on the pitch. Thus, according to the singer, Atsu sought to rectify the situation.

Grace Ashly’s Nante Yie (Farewell) which was dedicated to Atsu also mentioned Junior Agogo, another Black Stars champion.

Sonto further asked if the music star had gained anything, especially financially, from her patriotic work for the Black Stars.

“I used to confront Kwesi Nyantakyi a lot,” she answered, citing several instances at the Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands.

According to Ashly, usually after recording the Black Stars cheer songs and creating the music videos, she would go and show it to the then Ghana Football Association boss Kwesi Nyantakyi, “but instead of giving me money, he would not and that would be all”.

Notwithstanding, she said: “I observed two or three people, some loved ones, would, out of nowhere, call me”.

Here, she recalled the benevolence of the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) Julius Debrah, who after much taunting by radio presenter Adakabre, sponsored her trip to go witness the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where Ghana nearly made history as the first African country to get into the semi-finals.

“We already had the visa but I didn’t want to go. When I went to see him, he told me he’d buy my ticket and give me pocket money and encouraged me to go,” Ashly revealed. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

“So at times, some people, some of our leaders, show gratitude – someone like my father President Kufuor, he makes so very proud,” she noted contentedly.