Government, GFA must show leadership

Dede Ayew - Black Stars player  

The view that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into events which characterized Ghana’s presence at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil would amount to nothing was prejudicial before the committee started its work. Many welcomed the idea of establishing the Commission but not everybody believed that the Commission’s report would give birth to significant if not dramatic changes to the problem they were supposed to solve.

The unbelief, which could have seen commentators being slapped with contempt charges depending on how they expressed their lack of confidence in the Commission, stemmed from the fact that, reports of such Commissions of Inquiry in the past, didn’t lead to any departure from the wrong attitudes; mishandling of affairs which called for those investigative bodies.

I don’t know if those who said the Commission’s work wouldn’t cause any real positive change have been vindicated. What I do know is that, nearly a year after the Commission ended its sittings, there is still so much talk about the Black Stars and their money matters. What does that tell us?

Just after the Black Stars returned from Brazil, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) President, Kwesi Nyantakyi, in a Daily Graphic report admitted that, money ruined the team. Nyantakyi’s assertion wasn’t far from the truth but the simple question to ask then was: How and who allowed money to ruin the team? I was convinced beyond all doubts that, the handling of the Black Stars’ appearance fee saga for example was extremely poor.

It seems to me that, the same poor handling of affairs has again reared its ugly face over the Black Stars’ bonus issue. It’s unfortunate that, resources would be spent on investigating a highly disgraceful occurrence at an international competition and months on, we still don’t seem to have found better means of handling Black Stars’ money issues. Has the team’s bonuses been slashed to US$5,000?

Where from the talk of rejection by the players and the nauseating presentations made by captain Asamoah Gyan? I will support a slash of the team’s winning bonuses on any day. However, as I argued in a previous article, any decision to that effect can’t and must not be taken arbitrarily since that would invariably lead to needless, distressing quarrels.

The national team belongs to Ghana – that is why many Ghanaians for instance, feel obligated to wear national team colours to support them anytime they are playing. When and wherever decisions are taken on the Black Stars’ financial incentives, the Ministry of Youth and Sports must thoroughly do so in consultation with the Black Stars management committee, if not the players, and what we pay must always be what the country can afford.

That way, some of the hard talk on the team’s money matters will be curtailed. For me, we continue to talk about the Black Stars and their money issues because of there has been absence of decisive leadership. I fail to understand why as a country we still can’t determine how much to give to our national team footballers – such that in the past one year or so we have been haranguing over a straightforward issue.

If the government, the GFA and the players themselves aren’t aware, they should be told unequivocally that, the image of the Black Stars has been battered too much over money. I don’t believe the Black Stars are that money-conscious; it’s those tasked with their handling or management, either at the FA or government level whose inexplicably poor handing of affairs has created the continuous negative media for our once honourable team.

A few years back, that wasn’t the case. Most Ghanaians didn’t disrespect the Black Stars like some do now – seeing the team and its management officials for example, as a bunch of insensitive, unpatriotic money-loving people whose prime occupation is to milk the Ghana through football. That image, even if erroneous is neither good for the players nor the officials.

It’s time the GFA and the Ministry of Youth and Sports showed leadership in the management of Black Stars’ money issues. Most Ghanaian are getting weary over the everyday Black Stars money debate.