The Hearts of Oak chief executive officer shares his thoughts on the recent upward review of emoluments
Ghana Football Association (GFA) Ad hoc Compensation Committee head Frederick Moore has defended the governing body’s upward adjustment of salary and allowances which has generated a lot of debate in the sports fraternity.
At Tuesday’s GFA Meeting of Ordinary Congress held in Prampram, delegates voted to approve a new financial compensation structure proposed by the Committee.
The biggest talking point has been a 200 per cent increment in the GFA president’s monthly allowance.
“We have to be very careful.If we really want to improve Ghana football, we don’t only have to see the cost but also notice what the value can be,” Moore, also Hearts of Oak chief executive officer, told Kumasi FM.
“It is easy to see a cost; it is more difficult to see the value because if the FA continues the way they are working and they bring real value to Ghana football, those monies [invested] will be insignificant.
“We didn’t just propose those figures. We compared it against other associations in west Africa, excluding Nigeria because that would have seriously distorted it. We also compared it against companies in Ghana, including NGO’s, before arriving at those figures.
“What we have to understand is that the ExCo is unlike any other board. It is an executive board membership so they make executive decisions. There’s a big difference between a non-executive board and executive board.
“Everybody who works gets paid irrespective of the mode through which he or she was employed. When you travel in most organizations, you get an allowance because there’s some form of an inconvenience. The country that you go to might be more expensive than where you are coming from, hence the need for money to cater for accommodation and feeding. It is the standard practice that happens across all sectors of employment.”
Okraku’s monthly allowance has been reviewed from ¢4388 (€639) to ¢12000 (€1,747) while vice president Mark Addo has seen an upward adjustment from ¢3494 (€509) to ¢7000 (€1,019).
The rest of the Executive Council members will receive ¢4000 (€582) monthly, increasing from ¢2621 (€382).
“This is the first time that the ExCo compensation has been made public, so there’s a huge amount of transparency on the status that was created,” Moore added.
“Considering the money paid to the past executives and the current, the difference is very small but we looked at the impact on whatever money we are paying to them on the revenue and expenditure of Ghana football.
“We have to be very careful in our discourse about Ghana football, so we do not allow cost to be the determinant of our decision-making processes. We have to be very careful that we do not see the cost and be blinded from the value that we can get because if we do that, we will miss out on the opportunity of the value we can bring to Ghana football.
“Let’s not judge people by the money they take, let us judge them by what they contribute. If we pay people ¢500 (€72) and at the end of the four years Ghana football is in tatters, is that what we want?
“I would rather pay a lot more so that Ghana football will be expected and those in charge can be held accountable. You cannot hold people fully accountable when you are not paying them well so it is important to look for value rather than cost.”
The Okraku-led GFA administration assumed duty last October, taking over from the Kwesi Nyantakyi regime.
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