This hypocrisy must stop!
It is now official that the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has sacked the coach of the Black Stars after almost 28 months on the job.
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His dismissal on Thursday night did not come as a surprise though to some soccer fans in particular and the generality of Ghanaians because of the Black Stars’ so-called disappointing performance in the Brazil 2014 World Cup.
Those who were happy because Kwasi Appiah had been shown the exit belonged to the group who, right from the word go, criticised the GFA for giving the tough job to Coach Appiah.
There were those who never believed that Coach Appiah could guide the Black Stars to qualify for the World Cup, and even when he did, they did not want to give him credit and thought it was by accident.
So the rumour mill about the future of Coach Appiah was at work even before the World Cup in Brazil.
Coach Appiah’s detractors received more ammunition to fight against him because of the poor performance of the Stars in Brazil.
This group of people was loud in its criticism of the coach and seized every media platform to “bad mouth” one of our own.
But on the return of the team from Brazil, the GFA reaffirmed its confidence in Coach Appiah’s competence and went ahead to renew his contract for two years.
The future of Coach Appiah was shrouded in controversy because of the conflicting reports that were coming from the GFA’s corridors.
After GFA President Kwesi Nyantakyi had renewed his confidence in Kwasi Appiah, the FA announced that the coach had asked for a technical adviser, a suggestions that had been denied by Coach Appiah.
Kwasi Appiah’s technical style does not sit well with many soccer fans. Ghanaian fans expected a flamboyant coach, perhaps like Mourhino, but the fans forget that everybody has his or her own style. Sometimes it pays to be charismatic, but leadership is basically offering inspiration and followership. It is not necessarily about populism.
Reaction generally to Appiah’s exit has been mixed; we have a section of Ghanaian fans jubilating about the GFA’s decision to sack him. There are others who believe that Coach Appiah has been handed a raw deal and that so far, the coach has done his best.
We are not too clear who takes over from Coach Appiah, but there are speculations that Serbian Milovan Rajevac, the man who led Ghana to the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, who we were told had come in to be a technical adviser, is being considered for the top job.
We absolutely do not have a problem with the GFA to hire and fire. In modern-day human resource development, people retain their jobs based on performance.
Although those of us afar can express opinions about the events unfolding in the corridors of Ghana soccer, the Executive Committee of the GFA took that unpalatable decision last Thursday.
Our beef, however, is the GFA’s decision to sack a Ghanaian coach and possibly replace him with a foreigner.
And if the replacement is Serbian Rajevac, then we have a few issues for the GFA to explain to the people of Ghana.
But we want to make our position very clear, that so long as we remain Ghanaians we will stand by any Ghanaian and stand by him or her despite challenges or problems.
Our first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, in proclaiming independence on that historic March 6, 1957 said among many things that “...we shall use the independence to prove to the rest of the world that the black man is capable of running his own affairs.”
Looking back at 57 years into nationhood, we may not be doing very well and we are proud to “prefer self-government in danger, to servitude in tranquillity”.
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We are groping in apparent darkness 57 years after independence because as a people we hate our people who make a conscious effort to make a mark in our society.
So we adopt a “pull him down” attitude and undermine those who believe in themselves and exhibit the capability to rise and rub shoulders with anybody from any part of the world.
Coach Rajevac, popularly called Milo, took us to the World Cup in 2010 and stunned the world with a quarter-final berth. However, despite his so-called tactical prowess, his team in South Africa was beaten by Germany.
In contrast, ‘uninspiring’ Coach Appiah drew with the dreaded Germans in Brazil, the team that demolished the host nation by seven goals to one.
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We admit that in our three World Cup appearances, Brazil 2014 was the most disappointing but the blame cannot be solely placed on Coach Appiah. Going into the world Cup in Brazil, Kwesi Nyantakyi elected himself to be the chairman of the Black Stars management team, a role that demands that as the overall boss any failure must first be laid at his doorstep.
Coach Appiah was in charge of his charges, and in terms of everything that the team required to deliver, that responsibility was laid squarely on Mr Nyantakyi.
So if Coach Appiah must go, what about Mr Nyantakyi? Should we crucify him?
We would revisit the role of Mr Nyantakyi in subsequent issues.
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But in the meantime, we want the GFA, in the interest of transparency and accountability, to tell Ghanaians who takes over from Coach Appiah.
We won’t be surprised if the GFA settles on Serbian Rajevac, but can we trust Coach Rajevac?
It has been said time and again that Ghanaians have short memories.
Perhaps, we have forgotten so soon the shabby way Coach Rajevac treated Ghana after the 2010 World Cup.
It is a fact that his contract ended just at the same time. In September 2013, media reports said the Arabic website www.yallakora.com alleged that Rajevac had actually signed a one-year contract with Al-Ahly Geddah to replace their Norwegian Coach although Coach Milo had rubbished reports regarding his move to Saudi Arabia.
Again in the same month of September 2010, reports also indicated that Rajevac had performed a classic vanishing act that had left his employers at the GFA in wonderland following news that he had moved to Saudi Arabia.
Coach Milo, whose competence in the English language was poor, used an interpreter at the expense of Ghana’s taxpayer, was said to have dummied the GFA for a juicy job in the Arab World after the Black Stars beat Swaziland 3-0 in the 2012 African Nations qualifier in Mbabame.
Before this drama, Coach Rajevac had given Ghanaians his word that he was going to stay to help the Black Stars qualify for South Africa 2012.
At the time, Mr Nyantakyi, who maintained official ignorance about the sudden disappearance of Coach Milo, said, “We have only heard it as a rumour, but we are yet to receive anything officially.”
While GFA officials maintained that they did not know about the development, Milo’s long-time agent, Goran Milanovic, told journalists that Coach Rajevac had moved to Saudi Arabia to conclude talks with club side Al-Ahly.
Milanovic, who was disgusted by Milo’s action, said, “You gave your word to the Ghana people, you gave your word to the president, you gave your word to the ministry and you gave your word to the Ghanaian journalists that you will sign the new contract. You have to respect it.”
At the time others believed that Coach Rajevac took the decision in the face of the emergency mid-sea agency fee scandal that had rocked the football association.
Some football administrators described the Serbian’s decision as wise and timely because he knew his employers were entangled in a controversy that put the security of his job in jeopardy.
After betraying Ghanaians during that crucial moment when the Black Stars were preparing for South Africa 2012, we find it a bit worrying for the GFA to return to this same man to manage the Black Stars, when there are equally competent Ghanaian coaches who have won silverwares for Ghana.
You can decide to downplay the significance of our accolade as four-time winners of the African Nations Cup, because at the time it was believed not to be competitive; but you cannot contest the fact that those trophies were won by Ghanaians coaches.
And again, some of the greatest players of our time were those who featured in those tournaments in 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982.
Those who are jubilating about Coach Appiah’s exit should also be demanding how the GFA is going to settle the coach for termination of contract.
Any breach of contract involves compensation, and we ask whether in the present scheme of things that has been budgeted for.
This certainly would put pressure on the GFA’s finances and we pray they do not run to the government for assistance.
If we were convinced that Coach Appiah’s performance at the World Cup demanded instant dismissal, why did we engage him on a new contract only to abrogate it after some few months and pay him severance award?
Do we have funds to the bottomless pit to engage in this infantile game? Is this not a wasteful expenditure on the taxpayer?
Be that as it may, Ghanaians should continue to demand accountability from people put in positions of trust such that at the end of the day the people on whose behalf and in whose interest they hold office would enjoy better standard of living.
Ghanaians have not been very happy about the way the resources of the state, be it from the Consolidated Fund or the corporate world, have been managed by sports authorities, and we hope that the Justice Senyo Dzamefe Presidential Commission would prescribe the panacea to deliver Ghana sports, particularly football, from the clutches of the “devil”.
For now, we can only describe the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of Coach Appiah as bizarre.