Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has ordered the ministry of Finance to pay $45,000 debt owed former world boxing champion David Kotei Poison by the state, local media reported here Wednesday.
Poison in 1976 was said to have used $45,000 of his $75,000 match purse to import mackerel for the state. The arrangement with the then military government under General Ike Kutu Acheampong was to refund the boxer’s money to him on his return to Ghana.
The government, however, failed to honour its side of the agreement, leaving the boxer to fight for the money over the past four decades.
Kotei Poison became the first Ghanaian boxer to win a world title when in 1975 he defeated Reuben Olivares in a WBC featherweight title bout.
Ekow Asmah, spokesperson for Kotei Poison, told the state-run Daily Graphic that the boxer was excited that after four-and-a-half decades, his money was finally to be paid to him.
Asmah said the boxer expressed his gratitude to God and the president for delivering on his promise to honor the debt.
“When I broke the news to him this morning, D.K. Poison broke into praise of God for making it happen for him. ‘Oh, this is the work of God’, he acknowledged, almost in sorrow, given the history of his plea for the refund dating back over four decades,” Asmah said.
-0- PANA RA 7Oct2020
