No slipping on the job, Nii Lante
There is no way of getting along with bullies. For, they know not the difference between welfare and warfare, menacing tranquillity, disturbing the equilibrium, at risk of infringing on inalienable rights of just rewards.
Advertisement
Truth be told, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) is a discredited organisation of a few good men, some of whom choose immorality over immortality. Also, its hierarchy is dominated by recalcitrant officials who spite law, compliance and media scrutiny.
It is understandable that some shed their frustration by taking it out on the FA president, Kwesi Nyantakyi, the subject of so-called investigations into charges of tampering with the people's money during Ghana’s disastrous 2014 World Cup campaign.
Yet, I submit some of it is misdirected aggression that should go to the quarters of the tough-talking sports minister, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, who has yet to make the desired impact of halting the rot at the FA, the latest example being the recent international friendly in Japan, which took place in the middle of delayed season while the public is kept in the dark about revenue derived from that friendly.
Instead, the sports ministry continues to give the FA a carte blanche to continue their worst practices of little transparency, lack of accountability, and encouraging it to continue its modus operandi with impunity, as though it has some kind of immunity. Has the sports ministry cut some kind of deal with the FA?
While the latest infraction of the FA may shock the public, in view of the stick Nii Lante claims to be brandishing, the latest news from the ministry's quarters targeting players of the senior men's national football team, Black Stars, is downright messed up from the head down.
A Graphic Sports publication dated Wednesday, May 18, 2016, attributed certain statements to the sports minister, some of which raise the brows.
He is quoted as planning on "... striking out all bonuses paid out during various stages of qualification for major tournaments" among other faux pas.
In the said publication, Nii Lante claimed it had become necessary to go that route in order to address disparities between the Black Stars and "... all other national athletes (who) receive nothing for qualifying for major competitions such as the Olympic Games". That is a bankrupt idea, at best.
"I just want to place it on record that the principle is, we don't pay bonuses for qualification,” the said publication quoted the sports minister. Excuse me, please. When was that policy formulated? Now? You have got to be kidding me, Nii!
Paying qualification bonuses should never be an issue at all. For, all such athletes truly deserve it. However, attempting to equate the bonuses to the same figure is a communist approach. In the free world, folks get paid per their skill. Do attorneys get paid the same as janitors? Obviously no.
In his obscured sight, he claims “… all sporting disciplines are the same". He couldn't be more wrong! Football is king all over the world.
Black Stars' captain, Asamoah Gyan, has been raising Ghana’s profile in Asia, whereas deputy captain Andre ‘Dede’ Ayew is lighting it up, sprinkling gold dust all over the fields of England, where Jeffrey Schlupp, Daniel Amartey and Joe Dodoo are now champions of English football.
These stars have raised the profile of Ghana in the most popular league in the world!
As though to spite its rich golden history in Ghana, the state has laid no monument, gymnasium or coliseum of note at Bukom to recognise and celebrate its golden contribution to the nation's boxing laurels.
Yet, the sports minister wants us to believe his ministry sees boxing and football as the same. Please, spare us the duplicity.
That is what is necessary, not the poor attempt at bullying the Black Stars, as an extension of what is perceived as your cold war with the GFA whose disrepute is not in dispute, by the way.
Please, don’t let it be said of you that you were a hybrid: a cross between a toothless bull where it mattered most, and a bully where it was unnecessary.
You may not be sleeping on the job altogether, yet you have definitely stepped on a banana peel and are slipping. Much has been expected of you, yet little delivered so far, in spite of the goodwill and the heavy backing of the media.