Former Black Stars Coach, James Kwasi Appiah, has told the commission probing Ghana’s participation in the 2014 World Cup that player revolt in Brazil, could have been avoided if the Sports Ministry had been transparent with the players.
Appiah told the Justice Dzamefe-led commission Thursday that “dishonesty” and “lies” by the Sports Minister and officials of the FA should be blamed for Ghana’s fiasco at the tournament.
“The players are very intelligent people and when you continue to treat them as kids, automatically they don’t take it lightly”, the former Black Stars captain said.
He added: “The management were not truthful to the players…there was even one occasion that they said the plane had taken off in Ghana and the players kept asking how long does it take for a plane to land”.
The 23-man team, during the tournament in Brazil, refused to train after promises by the Sports Ministry to pay their appearance fees failed to materialise.
The action by the players forced the government of Ghana to airlift more than three million dollars to Brazil to pay the players – an action that turned Ghana into a laughing stock in the international community.
Appiah, however, clarified that the Sports Minister cannot be entirely blamed because whatever information he relayed to the playing body was what he was told by officials in Ghana.