The Communications Director of the Ghana Football Association, (GFA), Henry Asante-Twum has dismissed claims that some players in the senior national team, the Black Stars, brought with them black magic popularly known as juju, during the AFCON tournament in Cameroon.
The Black Stars embarrassingly exited the tournament at the group stage without winning a single match. It is the worst AFCON campaign by Ghana in over 50 years.
Head Coach of the Black Stars, Milovan Rajevac was dismissed in the aftermath of the humiliating exit with a search to replace him still underway. There were several reports indicating that several players went camping with juju and mallams which also accounted for the poor performance of the team.
But speaking on the Morning Starr on Monday, Mr Asante-Twum denied those claims describing them as fabrications intended to dent the image of the team and the FA at large.
“We all have beliefs as individuals. There was no day that I slept before 3 am. And I didn’t hear any Mallam chanting. No Mallam was hired for the Black Stars. There is no chance that juju exists in the Black Stars. The players have their individual beliefs and we can’t stop them.”
Asante-Twum also assured that the FA will put in place competent measures to ensure that the Black Stars beat Nigeria and qualify for the World Cup. According to him, failure to qualify for the World Cup will further ruin the image of the football governing body.
“We will fight to qualify for the World Cup. We believe that not qualifying for the World Cup will do our industry more harm.”
