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Elvis weeps at World Cup Commission of Inquiry

It was an emotional spectacle to behold at the Media Centre of the Accra Stadium, yesterday when the former Youth and Sports Minister, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, wept uncontrollably in the course of his testimony before the Justice Dzamefe Commission.

The spontaneous tears, which resulted in a five-minute hold-up, were provoked by a seemingly harmless question from Justice Senyo Dzamefe in the heat of Mr Ankrah’s evidence regarding how he felt as a minister when the Black Stars players decided to boycott two training sessions in Brazil in protest over delayed appearance fees.

“I was devastated when I heard that the players failed to train...,” said the former minister, who got choked by his tears, prompting the chairman of the commission to step in and console him.

In that surprise moment of emotional breakdown, Mr Ankrah reached for his handkerchief to repeatedly wipe away tears from his eyes. To help the minister regain his composure during the break, Justice Dzamefe requested for a video slot from the minister’s power-point presentation to fill the void.

However, when Justice Dzamefe posed the same question to the witness after his recovery, he simply retorted “horrible!” 

Matters came to a head during interrogation by Senior State Attorney and counsel for the commission, Mr Jonathan Acquah, when Mr Ankrah was asked to brief the commission on what transpired during the Stars’ three group games.

The former minister, who was making a second straight appearance before the three-man commission, revealed that negotiations over the players’ appearance fees, which had ended in a stalemate in Amsterdam, resurfaced at the team’s hotel in Brazil during a formal meeting with the players prior to the opening match with the USA.

“That was when I briefed the vice-president, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, who was in Brazil to watch the match, and he assured them and they were so happy,” recalled the minister.

He also disclosed that before the match with Germany, President John Mahama personally spoke on phone to the players in the dressing room after the matter had reared its ugly head on the eve of that crucial duel.

According to Mr Ankrah, he was confronted with the issue of appearance fees in Amsterdam after the Ghana-Holland friendly in Rotterdam on May 31, when he met with skipper Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien in the company of GFA officials.

He said at the meeting the players gave various reasons to justify why the $82,500 approved by Cabinet was not good enough, especially when FIFA had also increased its appearance fees for participating teams at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

Asked whether the matter was finally resolved at that meeting, Mr Ankrah stated that he thought he had made his point at the time of leaving, after telling them that Cabinet had already decided on the amount in the face of the country’s prevailing economic conditions, among other factors.

He revealed that the deadlock was eventually broken when it was agreed that the players should be given $100,000 which Mr Ammisah-Arthur announced it to the team at their final training session in Natal on June 15, ahead of the USA game.

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