The editor of Kotoko Express newspaper, Jerome Otchere, has expressed his disappointment at the treatment of the Black Stars coach Charles Akonnor by the Sports Ministry.

Akonnor was named coach of the senior national team in January 2020 with a reported monthly salary of $25,000. However, Joy Sports checks have revealed that he has not been paid since his appointment.

In September, Sports Minister Isaac Asiamah revealed that he has been negotiating with the former Asante Kotoko coach to take a pay cut due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I have told the coach to accept a salary cut in the COVID-19 period before we pay him…we cannot give him a full salary in this COVID era, so we are waiting for a response from the FA,” the Minister said in an interview on Adom TV’s Fire For Fire show.

In response, Otchere believes that he has not been treated fairly.

“He has not been paid for nine months yet he has been asked to take a pay cut by the ministry. I think it is not fair to CK Akonnor. My position is simple. If we think the COVID has affected our finances so much that we do not pay CK Akonnor, the heads must also slash their salaries so that we know that it is leadership by example,” he told Hans Mensah Andoh on the Joy Sports Link, Saturday.

He also revealed his sadness at the ‘disrespectful’ comments made by the former Vice Chairman of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Joseph Ade Coker on Akonnor’s salary and competence.

“Joseph Ade Coker said that he [CK Akonnor] is not a world-class coach. That for me is demeaning. No world-class coach will take the amount of money he’s taking. Herve Renard is reported to be taking $80,000 or so a month from Morocco.

Maybe he qualifies to be described as a world-class coach. If this was coming from normal football street fan, this would have been allowed but coming from a former Vice Chairman of the FA, it is disrespectful.”

Akonnor will take charge of his first games this month since his appointment. The Black Stars have lined up friendlies with Mali and Qatar as part of preparations for next month’s Africa Cup of Nations double-header qualifier against Sudan.