The Black Stars are getting a lot of stick for what happened in Brazil. They were booed when they played in Kumasi and are getting hardly any credit for their win in Togo yesterday. Now, if the problem is their performance and lack of results at the World Cup then fine, but is that really the case? It seems to me that they are bearing the brunt of our anger for doing nothing more than standing up for themselves to make sure that they got their money which otherwise may have gone AWOL. We have seen the nonsense that is being exposed by the commission of enquiry into what went on in Brazil………contracts worth vast amounts of taxpayers’ money being awarded by word of mouth, no real controls over how many supporters were sanctioned to travel, budgets for catering being submitted in cedis magically converting into dollars……and let’s not even talk about millions of dollars being airlifted out of the country by private jet. The commission seems to be doing a great job but if as I suspect, no heads will roll and all transgressions will be forgotten then what is the point. So, The Black Stars Squad in Brazil felt they knew what was going to happen to their appearance fees (based on past history) if they listened to the usual “don’t worry” stories. They realized that if they did not stand together and demand payment using the only leverage they had – refusal to play- then there was a good chance they would get screwed…….so they acted. These guys have been working outside the country and are used to dealing with professionals who at least obey the rules of contracts and agreements…….then what? They should come and put up with clumsy greed from their own country’s officials and say nothing? Now, we may choose to take the line that they should be playing for national pride and it is a privilege to represent your country etc but are we questioning the reasons why this debacle came to get legs in the first place? The embarrassment that Ghana suffered in Brazil was the result of a buildup of events and practices that have been going on for years. From what we are seeing coming out of the commission, it appears that certain departments of government are being run on a very casual basis with no requirement for proper record keeping or due diligence. Not only that, it would appear that this is normal practice and accepted as the way things are done. We have the GFA who represent GHANAIAN football but can somehow hide behind FIFA’s edict that government cannot interfere in football matters. Why? If your institution has the word Ghana in it then we the owners of that that name, the Ghanaian public, represented by our elected government should be able to summon the GFA officials to come and answer questions if some kind malfeasance is suspected or if other matters need clarification. We continually lament the fact that there are all manner of goings on going on in the country because there is no transparency or accountability and yet when a group of our lads stand up for their rights (the amounts involved are another debate) and against blatant chopping of their money, they are vilified. I don’t think that is right. Isn’t that what we should all be doing?......ing together and saying NO to casually getting screwed over because “after all, what can you do?”………..isn’t that what we all keep complaining about? That officials are not accountable so they misuse taxpayers’ money and just walk away? I think we should not vilify the Black Stars but give them kudos for putting their foot down and saying NO! The side issues about players kissing money, players slapping officials etc are all a distraction…….we need to ask ourselves HOW it has come to be that we have allowed things to get to this sorry state of affairs and HOW we can put a stop to it. Maybe it is time that we also stand up and say NO……….we will surely get some abuse from those who either prosper in the chaos or otherwise have an interest in the status quo but then………nobody ever got to heaven without dying first. Think about it.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 10:25:56 +0000
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