In an exclusive interview with BBC Sport's Ben Malor, Osam-Duodu said that Kuffour had been behaving in an "unruly" way towards officials in the Ghana camp, and had disrupted training.

He was then driven 300km by a Ghanaian official from Segou to Mali's main airport in Bamako.

Osam-Duodu said, "It was better for us to send him back so that the boys may have their peace."

Ghana's training session on Sunday was surprisingly called off without a reason being given.

But Osam-Doudu hinted that Kuffour was the major factor behind the sudden cancellation.

"Since the training talk I have never seen anything like that," he said.

Kuffour was one of Ghana's best players in their opening match against Morocco on Monday.

The decision is bound to affect the morale of the Black Stars team, but the coach is confident that he has uprooted the root cause of their problems of indiscipline.

Along with former captain CK Akonnor and Alex Nyarko, he is another of Ghana's best players to fall out with Osam-Duodo.

Third dismissal

The coach told the BBC that he was sure the rest of the team could now work together in a more harmonious way.

Kuffour is the third player to be sent back home from the Nations Cup, following Egypt's Ibrahim Said and Morocco's Abdesslam Ouaddou.

But the Bayern Munich defender is by far the most high-profile.