Ivory Coast Government Sacks Sports Minister

Alain Lobognon

Ivory Coast’s sports minister, Alain Lobognon has been sacked by President Alassane Ouattara over a scandal involving missing player bonuses for the country’s African championship-winning soccer team.

Lobognon was replaced by Francois Amichia, who previously served as minister of sports between 2002 and 2003.

“(Ouattara) took this decision based on concrete elements he received,” government spokesman Bruno Kone said, referring to Lobognon’s dismissal.

“This is about good governance. There were mistakes. Those mistakes were punished.”

However Lobognon insisted he had done nothing wrong and would make his case in court.

Ouattara ordered an investigation last week after players complained that they had not received over $1 million in promised bonuses from the African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea earlier this year.

Lobognon and officials from the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) have traded accusations of responsibility for the missing money.

The director of the FIF’s treasury was sacked last week.

In a series of messages on Twitter earlier in the day, Lobognon wrote that he had met Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan on Wednesday morning to discuss his departure from the cabinet.

“I remain convinced that the truth about the embezzlement of athlete bonuses will, in the end, be known. My lawyers will take this to court,” he wrote.


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