Pre and post Nyantakyi endorsement…

GFA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi

It’s easy to be misled by our media, especially by the overzealous, often ignorant sports and political broadcasters on FM stations. It’s neither that, those broadcasters are bad nor is it that, they aren’t worth listening to. Some of them are good but my observation is that, if you don’t carefully pick which ones to listen to and which ones to ignore, you risk being deceived.  

I have learnt that, many of these broadcasters who mount radio platforms to launch verbal tirades against authorities can’t be taken seriously and they freely have social media to ply their trade in cases where radio wouldn’t allow them. These are individuals who fanatically pursue an agenda against people or systems and whether productive or not, they vigorously pursue it.

I saw a lot of that within a year or more to the endorsement of Ghana Football Association (GFA) President, Kwesi Nyantakyi in Tamale. So much was said about why Kwesi Nyantakyi needed to be booted out to “save” Ghana football from a supposed collapse. If you listened to any of these broadcasters, you would assume Kwesi Nyantakyi was plain evil and corrupt.  

News reports – at best, rumours of would-be contestants against Nyantakyi filled the airwaves every week. Some even called for Nyantakyi’s resignation – something which wasn’t going to happen. Citing instances from Nigeria but ignorantly overlooking the consequent chaos that could bring, Nyantakyi’s strong critics appealed to the government to forcefully remove him.

Those calls didn’t get to government quarters. If they did, no government adviser, relying on the most simplistic political wisdom, was going to urge the Mahama-led government to forcibly remove Nyantakyi from office. So the campaign to get Nyantakyi ousted continued. More corruption allegations – mostly unsubstantiated – were leveled against him as if to suggest that, he and his “corrupt cohorts” were to be jailed on the strength of unproven media allegations.

I’m not against media allegations backed by facts. I am however not for the practice where, we in the media, with considerable power and influence, propagate stories we can’t defend in the court of law. It’s high time we put hardcore evidence of corruption by our football people before the police for proper investigations and prosecution.

Well, back to the Nyantakyi endorsement, nominations opened and no credible candidate could eventually put up against him. Interestingly, the absence of a credible candidate was also blamed on the FA President. He was accused of “intimidating” the football people not to endorse the candidature of anybody, creating the impression that, the football people have no minds of their own.

How sad that, the intelligence and dignity of football people are insulted as if they are all stooges. That attitude of calling our football people names without any correct basis portends danger for our football more than Kwesi Nyantakyi. Now, Nyantakyi has been given another four-year term. He was always going to have it as long as he contested and that is a reality his avowed critics refused to see even in broad day light. 

I don’t believe Nyantakyi has completely changed the face of Ghana football in his decade rule. My big problem is, there has been an overconcentration of his administration on the Black Stars to the detriment of domestic football. I keep saying that, with the kind of clout Kwesi Nyantakyi has, it is within his reach and power to do far more than he has done for domestic football but that gives me no right to call his integrity and sense of reasoning into question.

In his address after being endorsed, he said a number of things, which I wouldn’t be swayed by yet if there’s anything I would want him to do among other things, as he begins another term, it is the kind of attention his administration has paid to domestic football. His administration should critically look at the local game, which isn’t dying but rather needs serious attention.

Our local leagues need better care in the area of organization, regulation, marketing and promotion. At the end of Kwesi Nyantakyi’s new term, local football enthusiasts like me would like to credit him with something more than the shine he has given to the Black Stars and if that would happen, it would be dependent on what new things he brings on board this time.