Ghana would have qualified if refs were bribed – GFA Executive

pulse-ghana admin

October 17, 2017 2:37 PM

A member of the Black Stars management committee believes Ghana should have budgeted for indemnity payments.

Vice Chairman of the Black Stars management committee, Wilfred Osei Kwaku ‘Palmer’ believes Ghana would have qualified for the 2018 World Cup had the country bought into the idea of making indemnity payments.

The Black Stars failed to make it a fourth successive World Cup appearance after performing abysmally in group E of the qualifiers.

Ghana managed just one win in five qualifying games, allowing Egypt to steal the spot to the Mundial with a game to spare.

The nation’s inability to qualify for the World Cup has led to blames being put of players and officials alike, with certain quarters suggesting the country’s refusal to make indemnity and unclassical payments constituted the failure.

Osei Palmer, a leading member of the Ghana Football Association, believes such assertions are correct, arguing that making of indemnity payments are “necessary” and there is “nothing wrong”.

“I was quite surprised that Ghanaians and the media sided with former Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye [about not budgeting for indemnities] when the government whitepaper on the Dzamefe Commission report clearly indicated that unclassified payments were legal in the concept of our budget,” he is quoted as saying by Citifmonline.com. “If we had spent around $300,000 dollars [on referees], and stood to benefit about $8 million [by appearing at the World Cup], I see nothing wrong with it.”

He added: “When we say unclassified payments, it’s not necessarily giving money directly to the referee. It can be in kind, it can be in cash. The essence of it is not for the referee to be biased towards your opponent."But if that was a necessary concomitant to create convenient atmosphere for the referee to be fair-minded in the course of the game, then I see nothing wrong with it.”

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