Mills Swerves Black Satellites!

Six weeks after he publicly �rewarded� the members of the Black Satellites Team, their technical bench management, President John Mills lays exposed! High level checks within the football fraternity reveal that not a single one of the glowing promises he made to the Black Satellites has been kept! Not a single one of the numerous promises have been kept! He has not given them the vehicles he promised each member, he has not given them the government life policy amounting to GH�170,000 and he has not given them the $5,000 each that he promised! Yesterday, efforts to reach Mr Mahama Ayariga, the President�s Spokesperson could not elicit a response because his phone was off, whilst Deputy Information Minister James Agyenim Boateng was not picking his calls, even though they went through. �Massa, only you can fight for us! What injustice is this?� one of the affected players told the Searchlight newspaper upon being reached. Checks indicate that after the make-believe presentation, officials of the government told members of the technical team they were taking the cars to the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) for registration and this was the last time members of the technical heard about the vehicles. The Searchlight has since learned that the cars which were brought to the Castle, and the keys of which one was presented significantly to player Daniel Addo by President Atta Mills, are part of a consignment meant to be given to medical doctors in the public sector. As part of the �sakawa� package, each of the 30 players and officials of the team were to be given a vehicle while additionally, each of the 21 players will receive a government life policy and bond amounting to GH�170,000 with a maturity period of 10 years as well as $5000.00 but all these have come to naught! The players have also not heard anything about the donations collected by Oko Niikoi Dzani�s committee, even though Ghanaians were told by the President that the donations were flowing in! As at press time yesterday, sources close to newsmen within the Ministry of Youth and Sports who spoke on conditions of stringent secrecy confirmed the story saying: �it�s a shock that the whole nation can lie to its gallant citizens. The Daily Searchlight has learned that when it was announced that the players were to receive awards, some parents of players who were not in the country travelled to the Castle to take custody of the cars, but were turned away. It would be recalled that on Thursday November 5, 2009, the President presented a seven hundred and fifty thousand US dollar ($750,000) package for members of the Black Satellites who won the FIFA Under 20 World Cup in Egypt. The announcement to give the players and handlers the award came virtually minutes after the President of Cote D�Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, had announced that he had a package for the Black Satellites. Industry sources now believe that the President�s sudden decision was an attempt to forestall being upstaged by the Ivorian president. The government set up a seven member committee under the chairmanship of Mr Oko Niikoi Dzani to receive donations from individuals, corporate bodies and organisations and also determine the package for the team. The presidency did not fulfill its promises until the visiting Ivorian President announced a package for the team and with the disaster looming the presidency hurriedly organised somewhat presentation ceremony to boost its image.