Kurt Okraku
Kurt Okraku, president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), says he has no objection to the Black Stars’ budget being published but has raised concerns about why the national team is being singled out for financial disclosure.
The issue follows a policy direction announced by President John Mahama during his State of the Nation Address in February 2025.
Speaking in Parliament, the President declared an end to what he described as secrecy surrounding state spending on national teams and instructed the Sports Ministry to make such budgets public going forward.
Subsequently, Sports Minister, Kofi Adams revealed that government had reduced the Black Stars’ allocation from $2 million to $1.3 million for the September 2025 World Cup qualifiers.
He is also expected to release the financial details for the main tournament scheduled to begin on June 11, 2026.
He stressed that he is not opposed to public disclosure of the Black Stars’ finances, but wondered why similar scrutiny is not extended to other sectors.
According to him, focusing only on the team’s budget risks creating unnecessary misunderstanding. He also emphasized that the GFA operates as a private entity and should not be treated differently without clear justification.
On the sporting front, the Ghana national football team is set for a busy international schedule. They will face Panama on June 17 before taking on England and Croatia in Group L of the upcoming tournament.
Ahead of that competition, Ghana will play a series of preparatory matches against Austria on March 27, Germany three days later, and Mexico on May 22 as part of their build-up to the global showpiece.
BY Wletsu Ransford
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