Cameramen deployed for the coverage of the Normalisation Committee’s Special Competition have boycotted it over low bonuses.
The Special Competition began last weekend in the various league centres, yet some of the games were not captured on tape, contrary to the original plan because cameramen of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) who were supposed to cover the games boycotted them over inadequate bonuses.
Two games were beamed live on TV, namely the Asante Kotoko’s 1-0 win over Aduana Stars and the Hearts of Oak’s 1-0 victory over Dream FC, but coverage was poor because it appeared just a cameraman each was at the Kumasi Sports Stadium and the Accra Sports Stadium, respectively.
Explaining why they had to boycott the coverage of the matches, Elvis Mensah who is part of the team assigned by the FA to cover the games said:“When the competition was about to start nobody was contacted. We were just called and assigned on Friday that we should go and cover these games.
The monies assigned for the coverage is small. Some of us have to hire cameras before we go for the assignment, he told Atinka FM.
“The GFA does not have enough cameras to cover the games. Some of the Division One games are not covered because of the lack of cameras available.
“We have to rent cameras at a fee of Gh?250 per day but because the money assigned is not enough some prefer to rent cameras at a fee of Gh?100 which will not provide the quality you will need.
“They (Cameramen) boycotted the coverage of last Sunday matches because the monies were wholly inadequate”, he added.
The boycott of the coverage might be a set-back for the FA if not resolved before match day two kicks off on Wednesday.