Former George Afriyie, former Vice President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), has openly criticized GFA President Kurt Okraku for questioning the need to disclose the Black Stars budget.
Okraku, speaking to Asaase Radio, had expressed reservations about making the national team’s finances public.
“I don’t have any problem with making the Black Stars budget public,” Okraku said.
“But why are we not asking every sector of the economy to make their budgets public, and why only Black Stars? Why create confusion where there’s no need for confusion? The GFA is a private entity. We dwell and waste our time on things which are needless.”
Responding in an interview with Asempa FM, Afriyie said he was surprised by Okraku’s remarks.
“I am surprised Kurt Okraku made those remarks,” he stated.
“We all know the national teams, the Black Stars, are owned by the government, and if they are to give you money, I don’t see anything wrong with the money being made public. After all, the money is from the taxpayer. I believe that he (Kurt Okraku) was wrong to question the logic behind why the budget should be made public.”
The debate over public disclosure of national team budgets traces back to February 2025, when President John Mahama, during his State of the Nation Address, called for an end to secrecy around government spending on national teams and tasked the Sports Ministry with publishing these budgets.
Following this, Sports Minister Kofi Adams disclosed the amounts allocated for each Black Stars game from Matchday 5 to 10 of the World Cup, a move that has sparked debate within Ghanaian football circles.
