As Editor of the Daily Graphic, there were times that we needed to write commentary on a number of issues, some of which we considered as specialised to be handled by an appropriate editor.
These were in the realms mainly of Sports and Arts and Entertainment.
For Sports, we deferred to Joe Aggrey (Big Joe) and later Felix Abayateye.
When it was about Arts and Entertainment, Nanabanyin Dadson towered above all others.
Once in a while, however, I elected to run the editorial myself.
When it happened, the usual Ghanaian ululation and platitudes heaped on leaders, irrespective of the output, became my lot as I received undeserved compliments such as “we did not know that you had such deep knowledge about football “or” arts and entertainment like that”.
The reality, however, is that I did a combined course in English with Drama and Theatre Studies for my first degree.
Upon employment after graduate studies in Journalism and Communications, whilst serving as a Correspondent in the Ashanti and then Northern (Northern, North East and Savanna) regions, I reported in all areas of Sports, including athletics, football and even Squash and Badminton, as well as musical concerts, traditional festivals and religious activities.
Indeed, I was once mercilessly beaten at the Tamale Kaladan Park whilst covering a match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Real Tamale United.
The referee whistled for a foul I considered legitimate against RTU, but my colleague from the Ghana News Agency, Gariba, disagreed.
Our argument was misrepresented to a section of the park as a too-known journalist brought from Accra by Hearts was insulting the supporters of RTU.
Within minutes, I was pinned to the ground and the police fired five shots before they could rescue me from the irate fans.
When eventually they got to know that I was the Graphic Correspondent at Tamale, the management of RTU apologised.
That is how I became friends with Mr Bugri Naabu, once Chief Executive of RTU; Alhaji Aliu Mahama, former Vice President of the Republic; Alhaji R. Gbadamoshie, former Director General of the Ghana Education Service; Mr John Bawa, former Northern Regional Minister, and Alhaji M.N.D. Jawula, among other prominent individuals in the region who devoted their time and resources to promote football and, in particular, RTU.
Football
I have never been happy about how, in the attempt to commercialise the coverage of the football league by television and radio, live coverage of league matches has become virtually extinct, with the concomitant effect that public enthusiasm in our football matches has been dimmed.
Football is a mass sport and must attract widespread coverage on national electronic media.
But once it is a commercialised commodity on sale to the highest bidder, and the returns are inadequate, our people do not relate to the game the same way again.
Interest in the beautiful game floundered further when the Black Star players allowed money to cloud their commitment at the World Cup in Brazil, and we had to charter a plane to carry cash in dollars from Accra to Brazil to pay them before their match with Portugal.
Images of how some of the players seemed to be worshipping the dollars as they kissed the bundles shocked the conscience of our people.
The associated issues of misappropriation of funds, from the matter of co-efficiency, through cheating of supporters by way of feeding in Brazil and accommodation in South Africa, shedding of tears at investigations when it proved difficult to justify certain expenses led to recommendations by the Justice Dzamefe Committee that the state must never again organise and fund supporters to travel to watch matches at any further World Cup to support the Black Stars.
When we failed to qualify for the last African Cup of Nations, there were many who suggested that Coach Otto Addo must be fired. The Minister for Sports and Recreation nearly caused a disruption towards our World Cup qualification when he announced the ill-timed reduction in the allowances and bonus payments to players and officials of the national team.
The GFA managed the process effectively and eventually the minister announced the payment of qualification allowance to replace the abolished winning bonuses. Eventually, we qualified for the World Cup.
Calls
The calls for Ottoo Addo to be sacked intensified. When the agitations for the dismissal of Ottoo Addo saturated national discourse, the Ghana Football Association failed to act and rather resolved to support him with additional technical hands.
Then, certain key personalities started talking about who should be included in the team to beef it up.
The Minister of Sports and Recreation waded into the fray by suggesting that he would not be surprised if Dede Ayew was included in the final squad when asked by a journalist.
Even though some may argue that he expressed an opinion, if the minister were guarded to be fair, he could have responded that the matter of the team selection must be left with the coach.
However, he chose to act in a manner that communication theory suggests to be a direct or indirect dictation, called Framing or Priming, where the media present an image they consider the best to the public or keep on reminding the public about certain issues that they would talk about even if they had never thought about it.
Thus, when the list for the last friendlies came out and certain names were not included, especially as there is only one window left for such friendlies and the date for the submission of the final team list neared, the dice were cast, and the only way to get certain names added was to dismiss the coach.
Otherwise, why did the dismissal not come after the humiliation by Austria but after the improved performance against Germany?
Is it the reason why the leadership of the GFA were in Germany, and with the attendance of the minister, it became easy to oust the coach to get what they wanted done?
Could they not have come to Ghana before meeting to make a decision on the coach?
Kurt Okraku insists that it is in the interest of Ghana to have the coach sacked.
That might be true, but that is what Dr Martin Luther King decries when he submits that there is nothing more pernicious to orderly process than to take the right action for the wrong reason and at the wrong time.
The GFA all along knew that Ottoo Addo could not prosecute the exercise and yet propped him up.
So, why did they not dismiss him but spent a lot of money to provide him with diffuse technical assistance and then dismiss him at the last hour, so that our participation and success at the group level now hangs perilously.
At this late hour, what can a new coach who hardly knows the players be able to do independently and professionally, to constitute the team without interference from some overweening hands?
We must not discount our saying that the bad priest who has taken care of the sick before a potent priest arrives to take over must never be discounted or disowned.
I would not be surprised if Ottoo Addo is owed for months of his salary, allowances, bonuses and other conditions of employment.
At this critical point, when we are desperate for a coach, we may end up bring in one at an expensive fee but the impact might not be positive, particularly if the players do not demonstrate commitment and dedication to the national cause.
But the commitment could be punctured if those who have sacrificed for the Black Stars to get to where we are are sidelined and replaced with fancied individuals who have godfathers to speak for them from whatever spheres of life.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh