Wilfred Osei Kwaku PalmerTV3 Sports can confirm that the Vice Chairman of the Black Stars management committee has been ordered to apologise over unsavory comments he made about Ghana’s failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Initial reports, circulated in the media, had suggested that Wilfred Osei Kwaku Palmer has been banned from speaking to the media by the Ghana Football Association. Wilfred Palmer had told an Accra-based Citi FM Black Stars’ failure to make it the tournament was due to the fact that ‘unclassified payments’ were not made to match officials. “I was quite surprised that Ghanaians and the media sided with former Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye [about not budgeting for indemnities] when the government whitepaper on the Dzamefe Commission report clearly indicated that unclassified payments were legal in the concept of our budget,” said Palmer on Citi FM’s Sports Panorama. “If we had spent around $300,000 dollars [on referees], and stood to benefit about $8 million [by appearing at the World Cup], I see nothing wrong with it.” His comments got him dragged to the Ghana Football Association’s Ethics Committee. TV3 Sports gathered that after the committee’s investigations, the Executive Committee member was ordered to tender a written apology letter to the GFA and the Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah. A document intercepted by TV3 Sports, the Ethics Committee ruling on the matter concluded:
The Committee finds that Mr. Wilfred Kwaku Osei’s comments on Citi FM as very inappropriate and should not be repeated.
Mr. Wilfred Kwaku Osei should write a letter of apology to the GFA Executive Committee, the GFA and the Minister of Sports within 14 days on receipt of this decision.
