Living in Muntari’s Mind Let us start from the obvious. We know for a fact that Mr. Sulley Muntari, a football player of AC Milan in Italy and of the Ghana National Football team, the Black Stars, assaulted one Mr. Moses Armah, a member of the management team of the Black Stars during their ill-fated Brazil World Cup tournament. Mr. Muntari was wrong to do so, and nothing Mr. Armah or anyone said or even did would be sufficient justification for Muntari’s action. Therefore, this article does not seek to exonerate Muntari or justify his assault on Mr. Moses Armah. Indeed, this article is about many things – some of which are not related strictly to football at all; however, happenings in the bizarre world of football administration and finance may serve as a cautionary tale for how we live in the real world. Take for example, the issue of work and pay. Surely, there has to be a correlation between what people do and what they earn, and even if we cannot relate them directly, there has to be a reason why some specific work is rewarded in a particular way. Footballers whose teams qualify for the World Cup are paid an “appearance fee” for appearing at the World Cup finals and other friendly matches leading to the World Cup itself. This must be an initial compensation for their coming to PLAY the game. The monetary worth of the appearance fee varies from country to country and is based on a number of factors that have to do with how well a team is playing. I have no doubt the concept of the appearance fee derives from the entertainment industry, especially music and theatre where performers are historically paid for “appearing”, in addition to the performance or contract fee. The question I am asking is this: wouldn’t footballers find it strange that people who do not play the game also receive equal or near-equal money for doing a different kind of work, if any work at all? The life of a football player is a hard one, especially at the highest levels where a lot is required of the player. Apart from the short vacation during the summer when they take a six-week recess footballers have to train every day, not just on the pitch, but in the gym and classrooms too. They have to live a disciplined life adhering to strict instructions on what they eat and drink and keep boarding school type sleeping times. Footballers involved in continental tournaments in addition to their local leagues play two and sometimes three matches every week. Every four years, for players whose teams qualify for the World Cup there is no summer break; in between, African players have to play the CAF Nations Cup. It is not an easy life. The rewards for those who succeed in the game at the highest levels is very good, even huge in many cases, but players careers span only a few years and there is always the fear of serious injury or even death. Now, put yourself in the tight shoes of a football player who has to get up at the crack of dawn to train and knows that another person who does not have to endure any of the hardships he goes through also receives “appearance fee”. It is not that the GFA management should not be paid for what they do; it is that they should not be paid for what they do not do. Whatever else they may do and contribute to the success of the Black Stars is different from the job of the players and therefore cannot be equal pay, or even equal type of pay. In his evidence at the Dzamefe Commission, the President of the Ghana Football Association, Kwasi Nyantekyi explained that five people, including himself shared an amount of US$165,000 while a further US$412,500 was shared among “over 20 people” including officials in the Ministry of Youth and Sport, the GFA and other unnamed institutions. These are vast amounts of money given to people who were not even required to sign a mere receipt. Their counterparts doing similar work will be spared for thinking the thoughts in the minds of Muntari and other players as they gold through their weightlifting routines on a cold morning. Now, think about this: do you think Mr. Nyantekyi and his friends would share the money meant for five, six or seven persons (as the case might be) with more than 20 other people if this was money truly earned? The truth is that some people by being at the right place at the right time have profited from unearned money while their colleagues in similar jobs elsewhere toil in the Lord’s vineyard for only their pay. But this is not a football issue. In theory, the single spine pay policy ensures that people doing similar work are similarly compensated and rewarded. Thus, if two people enter the Civil Service at the same grade they should expect similar pay as long as they keep pace with their promotions and work assignments. However, in practice, some places yield far better returns, not through their real, legitimately earned income but through unearned graft, plain stealing and corruption. As Frankie Asare Donkor said in his Daily Graphic column, Frankly Speaking, It is “arrogance and chop-chop everywhere”. Take the National Service; people want “good” national service postings with an eye on being retained after service. The banks, telephone companies and places with good pay and job security are seen as attractive places. It turns out that if a young graduate wants to get rich very quickly the National Service Secretariat itself is the place to be. Every week we hear about another corruption scandal in which the sums involved could lift hundreds of thousands of very poor people out of abject poverty. The effect of such blatant racketeering, greed, stealing and easy money is that it creates a snowballing effect as everyone tries to make as much money as possible “on the side”. The net effect is that we all become so accustomed to corruption that we are no longer even shocked by revelations of its most outrageous occurrences. At the end of Mr. Nyantakyi’s time at the commission during which he revealed some dreadful information about abuse of procedures and processes in handling public money it was reported that people applauded him for his performance. To some people, it is all a performance. No wonder we pay them an appearance fee. I am not alleging that Mr. Nyantekyi and his associates on the GFA have done anything wrong. It is up to the Commission to rule on that, but there is considerable evidence to enable one conclude that our national football tournaments are “cocoa season” for some officials. Footballers know this too. What do you think goes through their minds when they know that there is a group of people getting rich on their backs while they are required to break their bones for the nation?
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 21:47:24 +0000
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