Princesses bonus still unpaid
There seems to be an uneasy calm between the management of the national Under-20 female team, the Black Princesses, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports over the exact amount to be paid to the team as bonus.
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Even though there was a budget proposal for $12,000 to be paid as qualification bonus which replaced the old practice of paying winning bonus of $2,000 per match, the ministry appear reluctant to go by the new proposal.
Snippets gathered by the Graphic Sports indicate that the Ministry was pushing for the payment of $4,000 as bonus for the team's qualification because they played only two matches as their other opponents, Guinea Bissau and Uganda, pulled out.
The ministry though has declined to comment on the issue, but sources say the ministry wants to pay the bonus for the two matches the Princesses played during the qualifiers against Equatorial Guinea.
The management of the team, on the other hand, is said to be insisting it should not be blamed because the Queens’ opponents withdrew from the qualifiers.
The management also argues that if the decision over qualification bonus was being reversed, then the girls deserved to be paid bonuses for the two wins they secured in Canada, even though they could not progress.
"It will be very unfair to deny them the qualification package of $12,000, as well as not give them anything for all their efforts in Canada and, therefore, will expect that the bonuses for the wins in Canada will also be paid.
"In any case, they were all catered for in the budget for which approval was given, so why would anyone want to reverse the decision?," a source close to the management committee asked.
Meanwhile, the situation over the unpaid bonus is also said to be affecting the morale in the Black Queens' camp, the Graphic Sports has learnt.
The Queens are currently preparing for the African Women's Championship (AWC) in Namibia in October and what started as a vibrant preparation seems to be giving way to low morale as the players fear they could suffer the same fate.