Former Minister for Youth and Sports Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuiye claims he wouldn’t have appointed Charles Akonnor as Black Stars head coach if he was Ghana Football Association president, Mr. Kurt Okraku.
Charles Akonnor, former Black Stars skipper was appointed by the Kurt Okraku-led GFA in January 2020 as a replacement for James Kwasi Appiah.
Appiah's contract expired in December 2019 but the GFA decided against extending it.
Akonnor's appointment has received massive support from his former Ghana teammates and amongst others.
However, some people doubt the genuineness of the process that led to Akonnor’s appointment as a trainer of the Black Stars coach as they claim that he landed the job due to his relationship with Mr. Okraku.
Hon. Vanderpuiye has said Akonnor’s appointment gives credence to those claims.
"Left to me alone, I think Kurt Okraku shouldn’t have made that appointment," he told Joy FM.
"People have said that he manages Akonnor as a person. So it is wrong, it smacks of conflict of interest to have made Akonnor the coach of the national team,"
"To some extent, I would tend to agree with those people. I have no problem with Kurt Okraku deciding who should be the coach and I have no problem with Akonnor being the coach in the first place,"
"But for the perception and the whole idea that he is on the books of Kurt Okraku as a manager, its smacks of conflict (of interest)," he concluded.