Publication of Adako Jachie photos: the motives

One of the structures that is being engulfed by weeds

Where did this sub-culture in Kotoko and the Ghanaian society as a whole, where people easily impute wrong motives to genuine actions originate? Why do some of us in Kotoko always have the tendency to assume that, equally devout Kotoko supporters act only to please present or previous administrators of the club? It is mind-boggling.

It is pathetic, especially when some people in the media, who should know better, join the fray to spew their ignorance and lambast well-meaning people for no good reason. That attitude must change, for it serves no productive purpose. Why should we spend copious energy and precious time finding fault, reading ill-motives into people’s actions and what is more, use expensive media platforms to malign well-intentioned people.

Last week, Kotoko Express and www.asantekotokosc.com in their relentless and sincere efforts to serve the interest of the club published pictures of the Adako Jachie projects which have stalled over the last five months. The pictures depicted how the office complex, junior and senior team hostels had been engulfed by weeds and also how iron rods had been left to the mercy of the weather with visible signs of it rusting. I took those pictures on my recent visit to Kumasi.

The weeds are fast overgrowing the office complex

I was moved to Adako Jachie by a candid desire to ascertain what was happening at the site. I was also out to satisfy the curiosity of numerous Kotoko supporters who have been asking questions over what was happening to the projects initiated by the immediate past administration. The photo-taking was followed by an interview with the unassuming Project Manager, George Amponsah-Duodu, who as usual gave me an unpretentious narrative on work at the project site.

In the interest of Kotoko, the pictures were published with a brief story indicating why the project has stopped in addition to the calls by supporters to the leadership of the club to do something about the project. It is not everything that I can share using this medium but reactions to the publication was fascinating. It turned quite disappointing at some point.

These are iron rods are obviously rusting

That the pictures were published to indict the current leadership of Kotoko as remarked in some media discussions surprised me. Again, the discussion no longer sounded surprising when instead of relegating wild Kotoko sentiments to the background, some discussants rather focused on the irrelevancies of Kotoko Express and www.asantekotokosc.com embarrassing Kotoko. How is that possible?

 

Kotoko Express and www.asantekotokosc.com have an inalienable duty to persistently project the image of Kotoko. But in exercising that duty, it is important to add that Kotoko Express and www.asantekotokosc.com cannot gloss over obvious unpleasant developments particularly when those developments have been brought to the notice of the paper by the people we serve in this case the supporters who pay to watch the club play matches and patronize the newspaper the club’s mouthpiece.

Who in this country criticize Kotoko players than Kotoko fans? And who in Ghana eulogize Kotoko players than Kotoko supporters? Kotoko fans have never hesitated to draw the attention of Kotoko managers to situations they find unacceptable in the club. When it is about the Board, they say it. When it is about the management, they say it. When it concerns their coach and players, they don’t allow anything to stand in their way to make their views known.

The iron rods have been left to the mercy of the weather

Even when it is about their own supporters’ groupings – Circles, Ladies, Warriors and Faithfuls, they criticize and praise at the same time. Kotoko Express and www.asantekotokosc.com have customarily been the conduit through which Kotoko supporters’ grievances are channeled with the highest level of circumspection. As a journalist who has been with the paper for nearly a decade, I am aware of the careful balance the paper ensures between working to enhance Kotoko’s image and also highlighting the negatives for immediate attention or remedies.

That is what a responsible club website and newspaper do and that is what Kotoko Express and www.asantekotokosc.com have been doing. Thus the supposition that the pictures the paper published last Friday were to tarnish the leadership of the club is flawed. It is the kind of deduction which every genuine Kotoko fan must reject. Irrespective of who started the project and regardless of who is leading Kotoko now, the project belongs to Kotoko and it is the good of it that all of us must seek. We must learn to remove the speck from our own eyes before we ask others to do the same.

Save Kotoko's Adako Jachie Projects from ruin

The office complex, dressing room, youth and senior teams’ hostels being constructed by Kumasi Asante Kotoko at Adako Jachie are in near ruins as weeds have engulfed the two structures which have stalled in the last five months.

Numerous calls and passionate appeals by hundreds of Kotoko fans who have been asking about the progress of work at the site moved me to visit the site last week. My first observation was that work has stopped for months.

The Projects, started in 2011, progressed until the resignation of the Executive Chairman, Dr. K. K. Sarpong in July this year. Since then no work has gone on. Checks with the Project Manager, George Amponsah-Duodu revealed that construction has stopped because of the lack of funds.

Dr. Sarpong in his handing over notes I have seen gave a rundown of events concerning the project. He stated that the projects were “being undertaken by direct labour under the supervision of D-Span Consult, an architectural firm in Accra. Purchases of materials and services for the project [were] made by the Project Manager, George Amponsah Duodu.

“The office complex [was] at the flow level of the 1st floor of the 3-storey building. After the initial hiccup suffered during construction due to soil-type difference, works on the first floor [was] about 70% completed. What [was] left before the concrete casting could be done [was] the dropping of the floor bars by the steel benders which [was to take] about two weeks, upon inspection by the engineers.

“Available on site [was] enough chippings, sand and iron rods to complete the flow of the first floor. The Youth Team Hostel, which is also a 3-storey building, [was] at the lintel level. Monies spent so far on the projects, according to the Project Manager amount to GHC 365,399.68 with GHC50, 317.68 going into consultancy and the remainder representing monies spent on Project works” wrote the former chairman.

At the moment, the project has been left to the mercy of the weather and weeds. Kotoko supporters who visit the training ground on daily basis have been expressing concerns over the current state of the project. The appeal from these fans, I interviewed is that, funds should be solicited to first clear the loads of weeds that have engulfed structures.

Kotoko and the Ghanaian media

A U-TV Reporter interviews Didi Dramani

When I was a little younger than I am now and an ordinary Kotoko fan, I easily believed that the Ghanaian media was anti-Kotoko. I cannot explain why but I guess based on my inordinate passion for Kotoko at that time, any negative story on the club caused me to assume that, the media didn’t like Kotoko and for that reason, they were always eager to put Kotoko in bad light.

That was childish. I have come to realize that negative news sells more than positive news. A thorough sifting of my Kotoko passion, journalism education and in totality, maturity, has significantly altered my perception of our media and their reports on Kotoko. Without fear of contradiction, I say, that, most sports journalists I have come across in Ghana have sympathies for Kotoko although not many of them are keen to make that public for fear of being labeled.

They eagerly share how madly they are love with European clubs like Liverpool, Manchester United, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. The reality however is that, fans of our local teams know the clubs most Ghanaian sports journalists support here. Some Kotoko fans have often got it, awfully wrong, not alone in identifying some Ghanaian journalists as anti-Kotoko, and attempt to either attack them verbally or physically.

At times, it is as if those media practitioners are ‘outcasts’ who must be dealt with for hurting the club but regardless of how irresponsible some journalists turn to be with Kotoko stories, there can be absolutely no justification for any sort of attacks on them. I do not know how the sports desks of media houses in Ghana decide to handle Kotoko stories. What I know is that the media houses do not suddenly wake up to ‘launch a negative agenda’.

Thus the tendency for us within Kotoko to easily feel and think that certain media houses have an ‘agenda’ against the club at the least chance is worrying. This is not in defence of media houses in Ghana. Media houses thrive on information. I thrive on information at Kotoko Express and asantekotokosc.com. I will not fill the vacuum with just any story on Kotoko in the unlikely event of being deprived of Kotoko news as a journalist for the club’s newspaper and website.

But, given my small observation of the Ghanaian media landscape, there is little or no guarantee, that, other journalists or media houses at large won’t be tempted to feed the public with half-baked news on Kotoko if regular and accurate information on the club isn’t forthcoming. What this means is that, steps must be taken to properly set up a Kotoko communications or public affairs desk to interact with the media as often as they could.

Michael Akuffu speaks to journalists from Multi Media 

Again, I am not justifying the practice whereby some journalists or media houses – especially radio stations broadcast inaccurate stories on Kotoko either deliberately or mistakenly. My position is that, Kotoko appear not to have, in recent times, comprehensively dealt with the media well hence leaving a huge vacuum often filled with misleading reportage.

There must be clear, constant, free flow of Kotoko information to the media. That could eventually reduce to the barest minimum, if not completely halting the sometimes outrageously false information on the club – a situation which worries everybody at the club.

As observed by speakers at the inauguration of Kotoko’s 2014 Africa campaign committee, where issues bothering on the media’s relationship with the club were raised, Kotoko needs the media. The media also needs Kotoko. The two institutions must find acceptable means of interacting for mutual benefit. I agree with Board Chairman, Paul Adu-Gyamfi’s call on the media to respect confidentiality when it comes to players’ contracts and sponsorship deals.

I am also with the Board Chairman regarding his position on the need for the media to be circumspect when talking about managers of Kotoko. Board member, Samuel Osei Kuffour also expressed similar sentiments. While their admonitions are worthy, it’s important to stress that, we will all be winners when there’s a clearly defined communications desk at the club which will frequently and professionally handle public and media related matters. This is imperative. That, in essence, calls for the setting up of proper administrative structures at Kotoko.

After the draw, planning is all that matters

The Black Stars are in Group G with USA, Germany and Portugal

I spent the greater part of last week in Kumasi, helping in the planning and organization of Kotoko’s 2014 Africa Campaign Committee inauguration. Thankfully, the good planning and organization yielded a positive outcome as the programme ended successfully despite starting late. The programme started late because of the 2014 FIFA World Cup draw which was live on television just at the time the inauguration of the committee was to commence.

Although most of the dignitaries invited for the august occasion turned up on time, our programme couldn’t start on time also because many of the invited media houses were not present by 4pm. The few reporters who came in before 4pm even moved downstairs (from the Conference Room to the Restaurant at Miklin Hotel) to catch a glimpse of the World Cup draw.

That was to be expected. The draw was also of paramount importance. Finally, when the draw was over and Ghana paired with the United States of America (USA), Germany and Portugal, reactions poured in fast. I listened carefully and excitedly to the interviews by FM stations across the length and breadth of Kumasi via the radio on my phone.

The conclusion I drew was that, Ghana, according to public opinion in Kumasi was handed a tough draw; a draw that many football fans didn’t expect. In fact, the foregoing was the thought expressed by a terrified radio phone-in caller. I said terrified because I could easily tell from the caller’s voice, that, he saw Germany, Portugal and the USA as very strong opponents - opponents that could give the Black Stars real problems in their quest to win next year’s prestigious competition. 

The Black Stars have impressed Ghanaian fans in their two appearances at the FIFA World Cup. That is why it is not difficult to appreciate or understand why many Ghanaian football fans believe that the team can win the 2014 tournament.

At their maiden appearance, Germany 2006, Ghana exited at the 1/16th stage, losing 3-0 to almighty Brazil. Four years on, Ghana crashed out at the quarter final berth, losing on penalties to Uruguay. In fact, Ghana was the only African country out of the six that participated to reach that dignifying stage. Therefore the marked progress the Black Stars made from 2006 to 2010 is what legitimately forces many to think that the team will do much better in Brazil next year.

The belief of most Ghanaians is that the Black Stars would get to the semi-final, the final and thus win the competition. Being drawn against the tried and tested Germany, Portugal and USA, the confidence of some Ghanaian fans who predicted that the Black Stars would win the World Cup appears to have suddenly waned. The refrain seems to be that Ghana could actually exit immediately after the group matches. That will be disappointing.

I am not one of those who believe that such a thing will happen although I humbly concede that, Germany, Portugal and the USA are absolutely no push-overs in world football. What matters for me, really, at this moment are not the lofty, almost unrealistic predictions! I am certain in my mind that that all that matters now is how we plan for a successful participation.

The operative word is successful. By successful, I mean going beyond the quarter final stage. Anything short of that is failure. The onus therefore lies heavily on the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ghana Football Association and Coach Kwasi Appiah to plan and prepare effectively for our opponents. We must design a pragmatic programme for the Black Stars and that programme must eventually ensure that Ghana will not be also-runs at Brazil 2014.

Ghana may not have the C-Ronaldo Portugal has for example but we must have a team that is capable of beating not C-Ronaldo but Portugal. We must put confidence in our team and give them total support. The pre-tournament talk may not favour Ghana but at the end of the day, what will matter won’t be what was said before the tournament. What every Ghanaian will be asking will be what Black Stars did at the tournament in Brazil.