Aide to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Kofi Asare Brako has slammed former Black Stars coach James Kwasi Appiah demanding for his unpaid salaries and winning bonuses, and threatening to drag the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to FIFA.
The Sports Ministry has failed to honour payment of five months salary (August – December 2019) and winning bonuses owed Kwasi Appiah and the former Black Stars coach has gone public with his grievances after the GFA and the Sports Ministry both refused respond to letters he sent them demanding for his money. Appiah is demanding full payments of the five months salary owed him together with other winning bonuses which totals up to $185,000.
The Ghana FA parted ways with Kwasi Appiah in January this year after his contract with the FA as Black Stars head coach expired on the December 31 last year, and appointed ex Ghana international CK Akonnor as his replacement.
Despite demand notices served on the FA and the Sports Ministry by Kwasi Appiah through his lawyer, the neither of them has responded to him and he has threatened to take the matter to FIFA and make sure he retrieves all that is due him.
Responding to the complaints of Kwasi Appiah, Personal Aide to the Sports Minister, Kofi Asare Brako lashed out at the coach, calling him ungrateful after what he implied to be a favour the Ministry did the coach by offering him the job and letting him exhaust his contract despite lacking the necessary competencies.
“We never imagined that Kwasi Appiah will even open his mouth that he is setting a deadline for the FA that if by last Wednesday (May 13, 2020) and the FA has not paid him he will take the FA to FIFA”, Brako told Nhyira FM. “Kwasi Appiah is someone who I will say should appreciate Ghanaians especially the nation Ghana very much for the honour we have done him as Black Stars head coach”, he added.
According to Asare Brako, coach Kwasi Appiah failed a four milEstones set out in his contract with the FA based on which he could have been fired, but the FA and the Sports ministry had mercy on him to stay and see out his contract and even under a luxurious working conditions given him by the FA, a reason why he should rather be grateful to Ghana rather then giving them ultimatum within which to pay him.
“It is enshrined in his contract that if he fails to satisfy any of the four milestones in his contract, the FA could fire him without any compensation. Even the milestones in the contract [he failed to meet them] we had mercy on you that you are one of our own so we should go (to the 2019 AFCON) with you, so if you do this at this time then it means you are being ungrateful to what Ghana has done for you as a Ghanaian coach, that is what worries us about your threat to go to FIFA”, he insisted.
Asare Brako further stressed, that the Ministry gave Kwasi Appiah a luxurious house to stay in during his service as Black Stars coach, paid all bills for him, offered him a car to aid him live a very comfortable life as coach of the senior national team coach, a reason why he must be grateful to the nation and have patience and take out the threat of taking the FA to FIFA.
