The Black Challenge were crowned champions of the 2024 African Amputee Football Cup of Nations (AAFCON) in May.
NPP presidential candidate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has promised to ensure that all bonuses owed to Ghana’s national amputee football team are paid.
Bawumia promises to expedite payment of AFCON-winning Amputee team
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Ghana defeated Morocco 2-1 in the final of the tournament, but the team has had to depend on external donations since returning with the trophy.
Ghana’s amputee team beats Morocco to be crowned 2024 AFCON champions
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Bawumia commits to ensuring Black Challenge are full paid
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Asked about the bonuses that are owed the Amputee team during his Meet the Press session on Sunday, Dr. Bawumia said he’ll speak to the Sports Minister to ensure that all outstanding bonuses are settled.
"Looking at the national amputee team who are owed some allowances, I will talk to the Sports Minister to get the facts on the issue and if that is the case we will try to expedite their payment. When I leave here, I am going to raise that issue,” the Vice President said.
The amputee team was recently criticised by the Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, for accepting external donations before officially meeting him to present the AAFCON trophy.
This was after former president John Mahama donated $10,000 to the team, with the Sports Minister also calling for accounts to be rendered on every penny they received.
Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif slams Amputee team over external donations
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However, speaking to Accra-based Starr FM, the head coach of the Black Challenge, Stephen Richard Obeng, said the Sports Ministry didn’t provide “anything from our budget” aside from buying them flight tickets and paying for their participation fee.
In a rather embarrassing revelation, he said the jerseys the team used for the AFCON were also not provided by the Ministry, which forced them to buy from Kantamanto.
“The government sponsored us, like the Minister said, by buying our flight tickets and paying for our participation fee alone,” Obeng said in June.
“That was the sponsorship the Minister was talking about. That was all. We bought our jerseys from Kantamanto for the 2024 AAFCON. Our hotel bills were taken care of by the local organising committee of the tournament.
“We never received anything from our budget, the only thing we received was our participation fee, which is $8,500.”
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Meanwhile, the Black Challenge have now booked their ticket to the next Amputee Football World Cup in 2026.
