Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Adams has moved to clarify reports surrounding the remuneration of Black Stars head coach Otto Addo.
According to Adams, the German-Ghanaian has not gone unpaid for nine months and is owed only half of his salary.
Recent claims suggested the 50-year-old coach had not received his wages for an longer period, but Adams told Citi Sports that while there are outstanding payments to some national team coaches, steps are being taken to introduce a more structured and reliable payment system.
“That’s true, we owed a number of the coaches, and we are looking for a structured system for payment of the coaches,” Adams said. “In the past, before I became minister, some of these coaches, especially the expatriate coaches of the women’s national team, were paid from the sponsorship fund that goes to the FA.”
He explained that responsibility for payments has now been fully transferred to government, with the Ministry of Finance overseeing all approvals.
“That has since changed now, all that has been offloaded onto government, and so we have submitted the details. The finance minister has since approved the payments, and the payments, even per the contract, are supposed to be in arrears,” he added.
Addressing Otto Addo’s specific situation, Adams stressed that the coach’s contract provides for half of his annual salary to be paid upfront.
“For the head coach, we pay him 50% ahead of time,” he said. “So, at the beginning of the year, 50% of his salary was paid ahead. So, what he is owed is actually 50%, not the full salary.
“So, what you pay him is just 50% also for every other month. So, it is not the full salary that is owed to the head coach.”
Adams further revealed that payments resumed in March following a press conference announcing the settlement of arrears owed to national team coaches.
“So, we paid after March and also paid him 50% of the 12-month salary that is due him,” he said. “So, what you now owe him is post-March 50% of salary because you would have paid the other 50% for January, February, and March. So, you now owe him only 50% of the remaining months.”
By: Pascal Amoah
