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Soccer News of Wednesday, 29 November 2000

Source: Accra Mail

Kotoko boss on Ghana Football

The current format with which football clubs are viewed as a source of income to both the Football Association (FA) and the government is wrong, says Kotoko president, Herbert Mensah in his weekly chat with the Kotoko family.

Expressing concern over the state of the game in Ghana today, Mensah said, "how both the government and the GFA hope Ghana football will reach the needed and required standard without investment in the game baffles me." In Ghana, the Kotoko boss said, we say we have a professional league without fully understanding what that means. He blamed the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the current status adding, "the Minister has sat and presided over the current farce and the most unfortunate point is that he appears to know no better." The rest of the system, according to Mensah, is simply waiting for him to either change or leave office. He expressed his unhappiness for GHALCA taking 2.5% of net proceeds adding that, "I find it both immoral and illegal that clubs have to pay VAT on their gross income when they have no current right to claim back expenses."

VAT in football, Mr. Mensah said, is therefore a punitive tax rather than a value added tax.