Sports News of Thursday, 25 July 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Don’t expect me to criticize AFCON budget - Kwaku Yeboah fires back at critics

Normalization Committee spokesperson Dan Kwaku Yeboah play videoNormalization Committee spokesperson Dan Kwaku Yeboah

Normalization Committee spokesperson Dan Kwaku Yeboah has hit back at critics, questioning their understanding of the ethics and regulations that govern Public Relations.

In the wake of Ghana’s exit from the 2019 AFCON and the revelation of a $4.5 million expenditure on the tournament, some Ghanaians have called on the man who made a career out of criticizing the erstwhile Nyantakyi administration to as a matter of principle take on the sports ministry over its expenditure on the AFCON as he did to previous administrations.

Kwaku Yeboah whose per diem contributed to the staggering $400,000 quoted by the sports minister as the total amount Ghana spent on per diems in Egypt has sought to denigrate his critics.

According to the ace broadcaster who assumed the position of PRO nearly a year ago, it will be unethical on his part to criticize the very organization that fed him with thousands of tax payers’ money in Egypt.

He however conceded that it is within the rights of Ghanaians to criticize the budget which many have described as ‘outrageous’.

“In principle I do not disagree with anyone who talks about the budget because the money belongs to the state and so long as you are a taxpayer you reserve the rights to criticize it. So you too talk about it because I said mine in the past”.

I am a spokesperson for the organization so you should not expect me to join the public to criticize that organization. People don’t understand public relations. I think my silence is legitimate”, he said on Peace FM Kokroko show.

Commenting on the issue, host of Kokroko bemoaned the continued use of the Black Stars as a tool for financial mismanagement by public officials.

Unlike Kwaku Yeboah who adopted a defensive approach on discussions about the budget, the Chairman General as he is known noted that the Black Stars has become a ‘cash cow’ for officials.

“This thing is systemic. Black Stars is a cash cow which people are capitalising on to embezzle Ghana’s money. So today I Kwame Sefa Kayi I’m saying that Kwesi Nyantakyi has been vindicated, he said.