I was never paid $100,000 — C.K Akonnor replies minister

Former Black Stars coach, Charles Kwablan Akonnor, has described as inaccurate claims by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, that he was paid $100,000 after the termination of his contract.

At a press briefing last Wednesday, the minister admitted that the state still owed both Akonnor and Serbian coach, Milovan Rajevac, but alluded that the ex-Black Stars skipper did not go empty-handed but was paid $100,000 as part of his exit package.

But in a quick rebuttal, Coach Akonnor said the minister got it all wrong because he knew exactly how much he was paid.

”I never received the kind of money the minister mentioned. I don’t want to put out how much they paid me but it was not $100,000 as the minister said,” an upset Coach Akonnor told Graphic Sports from his Germany base last Thursday.

The 47-year-old former 1860 Munich and Wolfsburg midfielder said upon the termination of his contract, he was paid some cedis and was asked to convert it to dollars using the Bank of Ghana rate.

However, even though the rate was much lower than the prevailing market rate at the time, it was nowhere near the amount being quoted by the minister. 

Coach Akonnor referred the minister to the contract between him and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) since it was still available at the FA.

He, therefore, challenged the minister to refer to the contract and see how they arrived at that figure.

‘My contract is still with the FA and if he likes he can go and check the agreement we had and see before making the claim and he will know that he is wrong,” Akonnor stated.

He also contested the minister’s figure of $200,000 as being the arrears left to be paid to him, insisting that was also inaccurate.

He urged Mr Ussif to take a second look at the contract and apprise himself with the right figure.

Updating the media on Akonnor’s salary arrears, the minister admitted that it still owed both Akonnor and Serbian Milovan Rajevac, who was also shown the exit in January 2022 following the Black Stars’ abysmal performance at the last Africa Cup of Nations. 

He, however, gave a firm assurance that the two coaches would be paid whenever funds were available.

He said, ”Both C.K and Milovan, once their contracts were terminated, we sat with them and negotiated their exit and C.K. was paid $100,000 immediately after the negotiation, same as Milovan.

”We still owe both of them and we have a payment schedule which I admit we have not followed because of constraint of funds. As and when we get funds we will pay the two coaches,” he assured.