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President Mills, President Gbagbo to reward Black
Satellites
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, Nov 5, Ghanadot - Members of the Black Satellites of
Ghana, the FIFA Under 20 world conquerors, are to be the
beneficiaries of an “everlasting” package from President John
Evans Atta Mills today and later another handsome reward from
Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.
After the reward from the government, the team is to be
airlifted to the Ivorian capital, Abidjan, to, in the words of
President Gbagbo, be “appropriately rewarded”. The director of
Communications at the Presidency, Mr. Koku Anyidoho, who
disclosed government’s decision to reward the Satellites in a
terse statement, stopped short of giving details of the package.
However, a highly placed source in government told the state
media that the reward would include a brand new and exquisite
vehicle, valued at about $20,000, for each member of the team,
including the technical team, and a life-time investment for all
of them.
The Oko Nikoi Dzani Committee set up to receive donations for
the Black Satellites will finish its work next week and come up
with additional “long-term investment packages which will amply
reward and secure the future of the players, their technical
handlers and managers”.
It said the committee’s recommendation would also take into
account the lives of ex-athletes, most of whom have been reduced
to paupers after winning international accolades for the nation.
It would be recalled that when receiving the FIFA Under 20 World
Cup from the Satellites at the Castle, Osu, President Mills
announced that the government would come up with a comprehensive
package befitting the status of the players and their handlers.
President Gbagbo, who concluded a two-day official visit to the
country yesterday, also used the occasion to express his
personal admiration for the Black Satellites for winning the
World Cup. He told journalists at the Castle, after bilateral
talks with President Mills, that he would also “honour the
satellites appropriately”.
He said he had decided to honor the Satellites because the
victory they won was a victory for the entire African continent,
for which every African felt duly proud. Mr Gbagbo asked the
Ghana Football Association (GFA) to liaise with its Ivorian
counterpart to enable the members of the team and their
technical handlers to be airlifted to Cote d’Ivoire to receive
what he described as “a mouth-watering package”. “Ghana
possesses not only resources such as cocoa, gold,
hydro-electricity and thriving democracy but it is also now
showing its dominance in football at the global level. There is
every reason for us all to support it,” he added.
Ghanadot
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