Youth and Sports Minister-designate Isaac Asiamah has stated that he will not be negotiating bonuses of players of the various national teams adding that he found it unfortunate that some former ministers were involved in that act.

“Why should it take the minister to go and negotiate the bonuses of national teams? It is unfortunate, it does not have to happen,” he told the Appointments Committee of parliament on Tuesday, February 7, 2017.

He indicated that there are bodies supposed to undertake such tasks and these institutions need to be strengthened to do their job.

Additionally, he explained: “The job of the minister is not to become an implementer, you are in charge of formulating policies for your agencies to work so that you can provide the oversight of monitoring and evaluation.”

His comments appear to be a dig at former Sports Minister Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, who, during his time in office, openly called for winning bonuses of Ghana’s senior national football team, the Black Stars, to be slashed to save the country money.

Mr Asiamah said he would allow the National Sports Authority to work with the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and avoid direct transactions with the GFA.

He indicated that his administration would ensure transparency and acceptability to prevent corruption at the Sports Ministry.