Ghana’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has revealed that the ministry still owes former Black Stars head coaches, Milovan Rajevac and Charles Kwablan Akonnor arrears for work done with the senior national team.
The Serbian tactician was reappointed for a second stint as the coach of the senior national team back in September 2021, during the qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Milovan Rajevac also led Ghana to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, getting the sack after the team exited at the group stage.
The Serbian replaced Akonnor as the head coach of the team, with the former Ghana international being shown the exit after the Black Stars’ defeat to South Africa in the World Cup Qualifiers.
Reports were rife that the Sports Ministry owed both coaches even months after they had both been let go. The Minister admitted there is still an amount owed the pair despite making initial payments .
He made this declaration at the press briefing of Ghana’s preparations towards the hosting of the 13th African Games next year in March.
“We still owe Milovan Rajevac.”
“With both C.K [Akonnor] and Milovan, once their contracts were terminated, we sat with them and negotiated their exit. C.K was paid $100,000 immediately after the negotiation, the same as Milovan.
“We still owe both of them but we have a payment schedule which, I will admit, we have not followed because of a constraint of funds.
As and when we get funds, we will be paying the two coaches.
Mustapha Ussif further revealed both coaches have planned to take the matter to court, but he appealed to them to exercise patience as they take steps to settle the debts.
“Both of them have written to the Ghana Football Association and are threatening to go to court,”.
“We have appealed to them that we are committed to making sure we settle whatever we agreed with them.”
The Black Stars side is currently managed by Chris Hughton who has led the team to a win and two draws in three games in the 2023 Afcon qualifiers.