President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama
The Minister of Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams, has disclosed that president John Dramani Mahama‘s directive on funding led to cuts in the Black Stars‘ budget.
The sports minister faced vehement criticism from some sports personalities and football officials for slashing the Black Stars‘ budget for the World Cup qualifying games against Chad and Mali from $2 million to $1.3 million.
It was argued that the estimated budget contained amounts that had been used in previous games to cater for players and officials.
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However, during an interview with Citi FM, Kofi Adams revealed that, as part of president Mahama’s quest to fight corruption, there is a measure that budgets should only include what is being done at a particular time and exclude future expenses.
He noted that since the funds will be approved by the presidency before the finance ministry disburses the funds, he thought it prudent to slash the budget.
“We don’t think that what will not be spent now should be part of the budget. So, for example, if you allocate $10,000 per player, and you multiply that by 26, you put the total figure there. And 100% of that figure gets approved. The letter that will go to the finance ministry to release money will be based on 100% of those bonuses.”
“The finance minister doesn’t sit at the negotiation table. So, he will release funds based on the approval letter from the office of the president. So, he releases to you, the Minister for Sports and Recreation, $10,000 per player. When, in actual fact, you have approval to spend only $5,000. What happens to the remaining $5,000? If care is not taken, ways are found to spend that money on things other than what it is meant for,” he said.
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The Buem MP further added, “So, President Mahama’s government says that, in order to cut off possible areas of corruption, we should only include present expenses in the budget. So, when you qualify, we will look for the money. In this case, as we prepare for the 2026 budget, we will factor in all the wins in 2024 and 2025 and make sure you pay the remainder of what was not paid.”
Watch Kofi Adams’ remarks below:
“I’d already indicated to the country in March that they would receive the budget before the games [against Chad and Mali]. So everybody knew that this was going to happen!” – Sports Minister, Kofi Adams, dismisses suggestions that the timing of his revelation of the budget… pic.twitter.com/KdW466GtJD
— CITI FM 97.3 (@Citi973) September 10, 2025
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Meanwhile, watch the post-match conferences of Otto Addo, Tom Saintfiet and highlights of Ghana vs Mali game
