Ghana’s majority leader in parliament Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu has condemned the nation’s football governing body for its continual interest in appointing expatriate coaches for the national team at the expense of equally qualified indigenous trainers.
Osei-Kyei who doubles as the minister for Parliamentary Affairs stressed the need for Ghana to start believing in local coaches because the foreign coaches have “disintegrated” the Black Stars over the years
The Suame member of parliament says the host of foreign coaches who have taken charge of Ghana’s national teams in recent years have succeeded in draining the country’s coffers but added little value to our footballing fortunes.
The affable communicator made a shocking revelation that the country spent over $70,000 every month on the immediate past Black Stars coach Avram Grant, an amount, in his opinion, has been wasted.
Addressing parliament on the recent deaths of three legendary Ghanaian coaches Fred Osam Duodu, EK Afranie and Sam Ardy, Kyei-Mensah Bonsu called on the state to put measures in place to reward ex national stars.
“We need to rely on such quality materials to be able to regenerate and reinvent our Black Stars that the recent acquisitions that we are doing, procurement of these coaches who come to add little value to our ball play”,
“They (foreign coaches) are disintegrating our national teams, they are disintegrating our national team”,
“If you have to step out and even look for football coaches, look for the up and coming ones. At the time that Bukhard Ziesse was managing Ghana, we had Clemence Westerhoof in Nigeria and he was receiving $5,000 and he took them to their first World Cup”,
“He [Westerhoof] was succeeded by Jo Bonfrere who took them to Olympics and won gold but Ghana had just four years earlier won bronze and Jo Bonfrere was given $4,500”
“When [Valery] Nepomiachi took Cameroon to the World Cupand they so much shone, he was given $3,500?,
“We are paying $70,000 but little results, everything worked together worked together $50,000 cash and housing, providing vehicles[for Avram Grant] was $70,000 per month and what results have we attained”,
“Let’s look out for the upcoming ones who are purposed to achieve things for themselves because you pay $50,000 and you don’t attain any results and you’re happy with it”,
Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, who is an Urban Developer, also implored the state and football stakeholders to devise better schemes to take of former footballers and national coaches who he says “played for nothing but for the love of the country.
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