AFCON Exit: Disband Black Stars Coach Search Committee – Ablakwa | Football/Soccer

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called for the immediate disbandment of a search committee set up by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to find a new coach for the Black Stars.

He emphasizes the need for a total overhaul of the country’s sporting structure and the formulation of a national sports policy to regulate sporting and related activities in the country.

Mr. Ablakwa recently alleged that the Youth and Sports Ministry budgeted an estimated 8.5 million dollars for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and said the budget never received Parliamentary approval.

Speaking to journalists in Kumasi, the North Tongu legislator urged the GFA to immediately suspend a committee tasked with searching for a new coach for the national team.

“There’s the need for us as a country to overhaul sporting departments of our country. I’m appalled that Ghana doesn’t have a national sports policy. You keep hiring coaches, what is the vision for our sports football in particular? What is the plan for our infrastructure? Ghana doesn’t have a FIFA-certified pitch, what are the managers of football doing? Suspend all these international sporting competitions that we have been disgracing ourselves, and let’s get to the basics.”

“That committee [coach search committee] that they have set up should be disbanded; we don’t need to be rushing for coaches. How many coaches are we going to have within a few months?”

He hinted of pushing a bipartisan parliamentary probe into the tournament’s budget.

“It’s important to emphasize that what has gone on so far is clearly unconstitutionality and illegality. Before you spend public funds, you need parliamentary approval. As an MP, at no time, did the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the GFA present the Black Stars budget to parliament. They had the effrontery, the audacity to tell us that they are going to spend public funds when they return, then they are now going to make an account and tell us what the budget is.”

That is not acceptable, it is absolutely wrong and people ought to be sanctioned for this. We insist the laws of the country must be respected. Ghana must not be a banana republic, when the house resumes, you will observe that my colleagues and I will be presenting the motion we have drafted already to the Right Hon Speaker Alban Bagbin. Demanding a full-scale bi-partisan parliamentary enquiry into this matter.”

Ghana crashed out of AFCON 2023 winless, losing their opening game in the competition to Cape Verde, before draws with Egypt and Mozambique saw them finish with two points.

In a statement, the GFA took responsibility for the Black Stars’ sub-par campaign, stating that it “fell short of the high expectations we all share.”