Don’t smear Black Stars with partisan politics

Let's keep our passion for Black Stars away from partisan politics

Partisan politics breeds strife. It brings division. It’s a major source of tension and conflicts if not in Ghana, across Africa. I am not sure if anything has threatened to put this nation on the verge of bloody clashes more than what partisan politics has done in recent years. As a journalist and also a political science student, I don’t believe that, politics itself is dirty. It is the actors who soil the turf and dirties the game; forcing people to believe that politics is a dirty game.

In Ghana, we have always had instances where politics becomes dirty and dirtier and that compel people to alter their perception of politics. There are some Ghanaians who have sworn never to have anything to do with politics. They argue that our politics is just divisive. That is why most people didn’t take it lightly when some supporters of the Black Stars were captured by television cameras donning T-shirts of President Mahama during the Egypt-Ghana World Cup qualifier in Cairo last week.

I watched that game. I also saw the fans in their white T-shirts with the President’s picture. I wasn’t surprised. At this year’s Nations Cup in South Africa, many of the fans who traveled from Accra to Johannesburg; Port Elizabeth and later Nelspruit came with T-shirts of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). It was no secret that most of the people who trekked to South Africa in January with government support were supporters of the NDC.

It is important to acknowledge that there is nothing wrong with them being NDC supporters.  They have the right to make a political choice. Whether they must take their political preferences and the things associated with it to a football tournament is another issue. Seriously, I would have seen nothing wrong with wearing Political Leaders’ T-shirts or Political Parties’ attire to watch Black Stars matches if our politics wasn’t unnecessarily partisan.

Black Stars line-up against Egypt

Let’s be honest. This is a polarized country. We have been divided along political lines for far too long. One senses that strong division when national election gets close. There are more than two political parties in Ghana yet the two dominant ones are the NDC and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Again, let’s face it. We are in a country where people haven’t developed to the point of understanding that we can be of different political affiliations and still be friends.

There are some NDC and NPP supporters who sadly, do not see eye-to-eye. It’s unfortunate. They hate each other. Interestingly, in spite of that hatred (which only hypocrites will deny), the Black Stars unite both NDC and NPP supporters all the time. I mean, the Black Stars unite Ghanaians despite our different political persuasions. That is why it is worrying when shameless attempts are made to smear the very thing that unites us with cheap partisan politics.

Yes, President Mahama is the first gentleman of the land. It is even appropriate, therefore, to describe him as the biggest fan of the Black Stars but I doubt if the President was happy to see the needless attempt to please him with that show of loyalty in Egypt. Prior to the first leg match in Kumasi, the Deputy Youth and Sports Minister, Joseph Yamin was reported to have said that the NDC would beat the NPP in terms of World Cup qualification achievement, if Ghana eventually qualified for Brazil 2014.

The Stars applaud themselves after the 6-1 win in Kumasi

That was an unnecessary politicization of the Black Stars’ World Cup qualification exploits. There was absolutely no need for that just like the T-shirt stuff sent to Egypt. When football fans go to the stadium to cheer national teams, they either wear sporty attires or replica jerseys, not T-shirts displaying photos of their Presidents or their favourite Political Leaders.

Who has ever criticized football fans in Ghana for wearing replica jerseys of say, their idol players? Why is it that many people are criticizing what we saw in Egypt? Legally, nothing may prohibit fans from wearing T-shirts of their Presidents or Political Leaders to watch football but it makes little football sense why anybody would want to smear the Black Stars with something akin to partisan politics at the time political affinity has been put underground by all.

Whoever mooted the idea of printing T-shirts with the President’s picture in front, for Black Stars supporters to wear at the Egypt-Ghana game didn’t think critically through issues surrounding our politics and football? We cannot tell whoever did that to stay away from the Black Stars. Neither can we, in actual fact, disengage football from the clutches of party politics. What we can do is to advise whoever printed and distributed those T-shirts to understand that, when it comes to Black Stars, partisan politics has no place because football unites us more than anything else.