WINDHOEK – Government, through the sports ministry, has allotted a whooping N$19 million to the Namibia Football Association (NFA) to cater for Namibia’s participation in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) starting this month in Egypt.
The apportioned figure to the Brave Warriors was confirmed by the Chief Administrator of the Namibia Sport Commission (NSC), Freddy Mwiya. The NSC is the implementing sports arm of the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service.
Queried by New Era Sport yesterday, Mwiya said the N$19 million will cater for the players and technical staff qualification bonuses, winning bonuses, appearance fees and other related logistics during their Afcon campaign, but however said he was not in a position to provide a clear breakdown as to how much will go to qualification and winning bonuses as well as appearance fees, and so forth.
But further digging by this publication through a source within the NFA Normalisation Committee brought to the fore that 2019 Afcon qualification bonuses that were previously promised to the players ahead of their final qualification match against Zambia in March have also been included in the N$19 million and players will be paid as initially agreed.
The committee member, who asked not to be named, also informed New Era Sport that from the allocated N$19 million, an amount of about N$3.4 million will be used to pay out the promised 2019 Afcon qualification bonuses to the players and technical staff.
The member added that the N$19 million also makes provision for additional performance bonuses for the players and technical staff during the Afcon – meaning if Namibia makes it to the second round, performance bonuses will be paid and that arrangement will remain in place as long as the team keeps advancing at the continental football competition.
From the side of the line ministry and NSC, Mwiya said the NFA Normalisation Committee were given clear directives that no funds will be allowed to be diverted to other areas and that all invoices of expenditures incurred during the course of the tournament will be filed and turned back home to the sport ministry for accounting purposes.
The astute sport administrator further added that if the Brave Warriors fail to advance to the second round of the Afcon, the money allocated as performance bonuses to players and technical staff from the budgeted N$19 million should be returned and not used for other purposes which has zero to do with performance.
“As the NSC and on behalf of the ministry, we will not compromise on accountability and nor will we take it lightly if funds are used for unintended or unauthorised purposes. This message was also communicated very clearly to the NFA committee, also I believe we are all on the same page as far as accountability is concerned. The money is already in the NFA account, it’s now up to the team to perform and make the country proud as government has done its part,” said Mwiya, who thanked the line ministry for availing the funds in such a hostile economic environment.