If we fail to plan...
There is a popular saying that ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.’ That is the unfortunate state of Ghana sports today!
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Four years ago, Ghana’s contingent returned from the All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, with mixed feelings laced with an associated bad press which some accompanying officials would want to forget in a hurry.
Amidst the Maputo 2011 brouhaha, all Ghana had to show for her chaotic mess was 17 and a disappointing 12th poistion at the end of the day. The fallout from the Maputo disaster was the institution of another wasteful venture of an audacious probe which typically ended nowhere.
Following that regrettable experience which make Ghana a reproach and a laughing stock in the eyes of the world after arriving at the Games at a time we owed participation fees, et al, the general expectation was that officialdom was going to approach subsequent editions differently; so it seemed.
But four years on, not much has changed between then and now, so to speak. The only difference perhaps has to do with Team Ghana’s organisation at the Games if reports gathered are anything to go by. As for preparation, the least said about it the better.
And in terms of medals, it appears Ghana Sports is still at a standstill. Available records indicate that Ghana hauled a total of 17 medals at the last Games in Maputo and 19 at this year’s event in Brazzaville, Congo. At Maputo 2011, Ghana had four gold, five silver and eight bronze, while Brazzaville 2015 gave Team Ghana two gold, nine silver and eight bronze.
Comparing the performances of the last two editions of the All Africa Games, the bitter truth the nation has to come to terms with is that we are retrogressing.
That reminds me of the promise made by the Chef du Mission, Mr Saka Acquaye, prior to the Games that Ghana was going to double her medal haul this time around in Congo.
Having monitored our preparations, I had my doubts as to how that prediction was going to come true. And I was vindicated. We can’t reap where we have not sown.
The truth is that Ghana’s glory has been on the thin thread of individual performances other than strategic planning and preparation. But for how long can we continue to waste the taxpayers’ money in such fruitless ventures when we know we have people managing our sports.
Not sounding as a prophet of doom, I will not be surprised to see a further drop in medals four years from now if we don’t change our way of doing things.
I commend the Black Queens for finally breaking the Cameroun jinx to win one of the two gold medals after George Darko and Wisdom Na-Adjrago had won secured the first gold in the men’s tennis doubles.
I also applaud the decision by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, to send under-age Martha Bissah to Brazzaville to get a feel of the Games as she undergoes grooming for the future. Let’s identify more of such potential medallits in the various sports and groom them for the years ahead through systematic planning.
That is the way to go, folks. Medals are not won overnight!