Sports Minister to review national teams bonuses
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, has reiterated his desire to overhaul the bonus structure of national football teams by striking out all bonuses paid out during various stages of qualification for major tournaments.
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The Minister made the disclosure last Tuesday when he welcomed members of the Ghana Weightlifting Federation to his office, indicating it was a bad precedent to pay bonuses to the Black Stars for qualifying for the AFCON, given that all other national athletes receive nothing for qualifying for major competitions such as the Olympic Games.
He stated that the principle of his ministry was not to pay bonuses to any Ghanaian sportsman or sportswoman for qualifying for a major tournament.
"I know some of you are having lingering thoughts as to what compensation you will receive for qualifying for the Olympics," the Minister told the weightlifters who sealed qualification to the Rio Olympics last week.
"I just want to place it on record that the principle is, we don't pay bonuses for qualification. It is when you have qualified for the competition that we take care of it.
"The truth of the matter is that a bad precedent has been set in the past with football and that we hope to change and we shall change it.
"Because if footballers play qualification for AFCON and are paid bonuses then athletes and weightlifters who qualify for the Olympics are also due bonuses and it should be the same for everybody.”
According to Mr Vanderpuye, all sporting disciplines are the same in the eyes of his ministry hence his quest to ensure equality among all Ghanaian sportsmen and sportswomen.
