GFA member defends payment of indemnity to match officials

According to a document chanced on by Ghana Sports Newspapers, the Ghana Football Association presented a budget of $700,000 as unclassified and indemnity payment to entice match official and to embark on other underground dealings during the qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Wilfred Osei Kweku Palmer, who is a member of the GFA Executive Committee and the head of the Finance Committee of the Association in reacting to the allegation of wrongdoing has stated that indemnity payment is a normal practice in football.

“I want to relax on this issue but what I can say is indemnity is not only paid by the Football Association, indemnity is paid by all federations,” he told Class FM.

It should be recalled that Ghana topped a group which had Lesotho, Sudan and Zambia, before they dismantled the Pharoah’s of Egypt to reach the finals of the Mundial in Brazil.

However, Ghana experienced their worst FIFA World Cup campaign, when they failed to progress from the group stage for the very first time, following issues of player boycott ahead of their final group game against Portugal over the delay in the payment of appearance fees.