The chairman of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate Ghana’s 2014 World Cup debacle, Justice Senyo Dzamefe, has said sacked Kwesi Appiah was given a raw deal.
The head of the three-member fact-finding body said the ex-Ghana international cannot be blamed for the Black Stars’ abysmal showing at the Mundial if his testimony Thursday was anything to go by.
Appiah told the Commission that he had a good rapport with the playing body and used his relationship with them to calm tempers, but officials kept lying to the players over their appearance fees.
“From what I am hearing, if it is true, I don’t think we [Ghana] have been fair to coach Kwesi Appiah,” Justice Dzamefe said at the Commission’s hearing when Appiah made an appearance.
“Imagine you have a child you have promised to give a phone and the child keeps asking you ‘daddy when is the phone coming?’ And you keep saying ‘tomorrow, tomorrow’, how will he trust you.”
He added: “Mr. [Kwesi] Appiah, I think we worried you. Players who were supposed to play a game and carry out instructions on the field had $100, 000 in their changing room.
“I really empathise with you. We really worried you. The system gave you problems. So what do you expect the coach to do in such a situation? Some were fighting, some were counting money and others didn’t even sleep,” Justice Dzamefe recalled.
“Coach, I don’t blame you. This commission will make sure this never happens again and that this issue of cash with our national teams is gone. Maybe if you will see any cash you will come back to Ghana to see it.
“All money issues will be sorted here in Ghana before the team leaves,” the judge pointed out.
Appiah was sacked by the Ghana Football Association early this month after his side’s abysmal performance at the global football festival in Brazil.
