Ghana’s president has removed the minister of sport and his deputy from their positions in the wake of the country’s poor performance in the World Cup. The president, John Mahama, gave no reason for the order, but it comes after the team finished bottom of Group G, failing to win any games.
The president’s statement on Saturday said that Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah was now a minister of state in the government while his deputy Joseph Yammin had been sent to the Ashanti region as a regional minister.
The team’s World Cup campaign has been dogged by difficulties and controversy. Ghana’s players threatened to strike unless a cash shipment containing unpaid fees was sent to them. Mahama was forced to send a plane containing £1.76m to Brasília for the players to share.
Meanwhile Sulley Muntari was suspended for what the country’s FA alleged was “an unprovoked physical attack” on an FA executive committee member. Kevin-Prince Boateng was also suspended indefinitely for what the FA said were “vulgar verbal insults” aimed at the team’s coach, James Appiah, during training.
The country’s 2014 campaign was in sharp contrast to the 2010 one, in which Ghana progressed to the quarter-finals and were denied a goal that might have taken them to the semi-finals by a Luis Suárez handball. Ghana’s World Cup ended on Thursday after a 2-1 loss to Portugal.