Former Youth and Sports Minister, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah has debunked claims he faked his tears when he broke down and sobbed at the hearing of the Commission inquiring into Ghana’s World Cup fiasco in Brazil.

The immediate-past minister who has now been reassigned to the Presidency, broke down in tears while answering questions from the Commission about how he felt after the Black Stars players boycotted training for two days over issues with payment of appearance fees.

Some members of the public are of the view that Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah was simply engaging in drama and histrionics purposely to court public sympathy.

But responding to a question from Moses Foh-Amoaning, a member of the Commission as to what was his response to the claim that he faked the tears, Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah said: “My lord, we have 25 million Ghanaians [and] people are entitled to their views.  

“Before God and man it was not planned, it was not premeditated".

According to him, the question that was directed at him “wasn’t even a difficult question but it triggered a lot of things”.

“I don’t even know how it started…Never in my wildest imagination will I think of doing something like that [crying in public],” the Minister said on his third appearance at the Commission hearing.

Poor management decisions and player indiscipline resulted in the team exiting the tournament in the first round, recording only a point out of a possible nine after losing 1:2 to the United States of America and Portugal and a 2:2 draw with Germany.