Deputy Sports, Perry Okudzeto, has stated that members of the newly-constituted Black Stars Management Committee are there on merit and not because of their political affiliations.
The five-man committee made up of former Kotoko Executive Chairman and now GNPC boss, Dr. KK Sarpong; former Black Stars player , Ibrahim Sunday; Deputy Chief of Staff, Francis Asenso-Boakye, and madam Abena Osei Asare -a member of parliament for the ruling NPP-.
Perry, who is the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, says competence was a key factor in putting together management committee.
Speaking on a local radio station, Mr. Okudzeto said they all deserve to be in that position.
“I am the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, I may belong to the NPP but national teams are own by government and government funds and runs national teams. National team are appointments are not made on party lines therefore I find it hard to understand why people will not understand Is it that they want us to bring Haruna Iddrisu or John Tia into the management before we know is good?,” he quizzed.
“What matters is that Ghana has taken a decision that we want to win the campaign to Africa and we want to support our senior national team to win the trophy.”
“Look at Dr. K.K Sarpong on the committee, Dr. Sarpong heads one of the most important national assets we have. The Ghana National Petroleum Company (his outfit) funds 50% of what takes the Black Stars to Africa. We have put together a team that would manage the national team towards Africa and I believe that the people who have been brought on the committee are very dedicated to making sure that we achieve the goal that we have set for ourselves,” Perry stated.
The last time Ghana came close to winning the Africa Cup of Nation title was in 2015. They lost to Ivory Coast in a penalty shootout marathon at the finals of the tournament hosted by Equatorial Guinea
AFCON 2019 is set to be hosted by Egypt from June 15 to July 13.