My Dear President,
I am very happy to write to you this letter. How are you? I hope by the grace of the Almighty Allah, you are fine. I guess you have remembered your elementary school days? Hahaha!
Am told you are touring the country but my prayer is that this letter gets to you in good faith. It is time you act quickly to save Ghana football. Your government has thrown the beautiful game to the dogs.
Mr. President, Ghana football has been exposed to a series of frustrations ever since the abysmal performance of the Black Stars which saw the team exits the 2014 World Cup in Brazil at the group stage.
Mr. President, please watch this: In 2006 when the Black Stars went to the first world cup, Mr. J.A. Kuffour (then President of Ghana) gave $2.1m out of the $4.5m from the tournament to the FA to manage their affairs.
The FA built two ultra modern offices; one for the FA and one for the PLB. They secured offices for all the ten regional FAs and bought working vehicles for them as well as investing some into the training of coaches and referees.
But unfortunately, when your government came to power, all the $11m from the 2010 World Cup was taken from the FA. And that was the last time we heard of it.
After the 2014 World Cup, the government after taking the loan they had given the FA used ‘nyansakwan’ [deliberate ways] to compel the FA to use the remaining $3m when they asked the FA to pre-finance the Black Stars for the 2015 Afcon in Equatorial Guinea.
Agya Mahama, will it be proper if someone should conclude that your government is killing footbal?
It is only proper and professional for me as a football writer to draw your attention as the President of the Republic of Ghana to the situation as it is gradually drawing bad blood from the football family, including me, for your government in general and the NDC party in particular.
Yes, the performance of the Black Stars at the 2014 World Cup was very poor (whether it was the playing body or not, we did not do well).
But at least the report of Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCI) revealed that what happened at the World Cup had nothing to do with the playing body as about 98% of their findings dwelled on administrative issues with little emphasis on the technical aspect of the game.
Let us take a few steps down memory lane and do a retrospective analysis of what has happened to Ghana football since the return of the Black Stars from the World Cup, Mr. President.
In 2009, the offices of the Ghana Football Association were ransacked by the Economic and Organized Crime Office [EOCO]. The matter got to court as the FA challenegd EOCO to a serious legal wrestling.
In the end, EOCO were found guilty of unlawfully ransacking the FA offices. They were directed by the law court to compensate the FA for the frivolous and unscrupulous embarrassment they exposed the FA to.
It was revealed in 2014 by the President of the Ghana Weight Lifting Federation, Ben Nunoo Mmensah, that there had been a group of NDC faithful including a member of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, Kofi Anokye Darko, that had planned to frustrate and get Kwesi Nyantakyi out of office as FA President.
In 2010 after the World Cup in South Africa, your government scooped all the proceeds from the Ghana FA with nothing left for them to develop the game as former President Kuffour did in 2006.
The performance of the Black Stars at the 2014 World Cup which was basically due to the delay in the payment of the appearance fee, leading to a scuffle between Sulley Muntari and Moses Armah Parker as well as supporters who were left to their fate at the mundial; with some sleeping at the stadium and in classrooms compelled, you to set up the PCI to investigate and come out with reasons for the happenings in Brazil.
The PCI started its work in August 2014 and very soon, the qualifiers for the 2015 Afcon commenced.
Black Stars management committee members as well as the captain and other players were compelled to appear before the commission when Ghana was seriously fighting for a ticket for 2015 AFCON qualifiers.
We nearly failed to qualify after Uganda became a torn in our flesh. Had it not been the troubles the football family faced, tweaaaa, how could Uganda have drawn with us in Kumasi and beaten us in Kampala? I guess you remember how we struggled before qualifying out of that group with Togo and Guinea?
Mr. President, please don't let those 'people' see this letter ooo because I know they will surely disagree with me because they may not understand the dynamics of team building and have been polluted by the numerous call of corruption at the Ghana FA, but the earlier your attention is drawn to the fact that football's been exposed to too much frustrations, the better for mother Ghana and father Mahama.
Just after the troubles of appearing before the PCI ended, the FA was ordered not to touch the World Cup money given the FA by FIFA even after the loan from the Ministry of Youth and Sports had been refunded.
The pendulum moved in the direction of who owes the money which continued for some time, inviting various commentaries from several quarters.
Let me borrow this Ibo adage, "The vulture and the kite do not scramble for food: the vulture is a scavenger; the kite, a predator".
Mr. President, just as the storm finally seemed to have settled the Black Queens commenced their qualification for African Women's Championship.
My investigations revealed that the bonuses for the Queens after the double-header qualifier with Zimbabwe was not been paid by government since November 2014.
The FA had to struggle with the challenge and handle the Queens to go to the championship in Namibia till the tourney was over. Well, in order not to make the whole thing long, the Black Queens are owed winning bonuses from that time through to their Olympic Games qualifiers as well as the All African Games.
The Black Queens again had to struggle with the Ministry of Youth and Sports for their bonuses after their Gold Medal success at the All Africa Games in Congo. Why must all these be happening under the NDC administration? Don’t you think it is drawing bad blood for you and your party as we approach the general elections?
In the end, the Queens could not qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio De Jeneiro. Who lost? ... Ghana. Now you see what I was telling you?
Since 2006, Mr. President, can you remember the last time the Black Stars were owed winning bonus in arrears. Ok, if you don't know medeÉ› menim paa.... Never! Even as a football writer I don't remember.
Ei, what is happening now in Ghana? Please Mr. President, wake up! If you are awake, then wash your face well and open your eyes.
Some people are pushing you to do things which will put your image and that of your administration into disrepute. Please walk the talk. You said in the 2014 and 2015 state of the nations address that you will ensure we qualify for the Olympics. We couldn’t. have you questioned your ministers as why we couldn’t qualify?
But here we are. At last, no qualification. I strongly believe that you are being misled. Please, open your eyes.
How can the Black Queens' bonus be in arrears since 2014 and the Black Stars enter the same fate? How Mr. President?
Then came the refusal of your government to make funds available for the Black Meteors' preparations for the All African Games.
My investigations have revealed that the MOYS cancelled the training tour of the Meteors ahead of the All Africa Games citing lack of funds. Were you aware? They are really embarrassing you. Did you even question why that happened?
Now, this is very recent. Are you aware that Ghana FA President and his staff had to buy tickets before watching the 2017 Afcon qualifier between the Black Stars and Mozambique in Accra? Goodness me! How can you tell Abramovic to buy tickets to watch Chelsea matches at Stamford Bridge or Alhaji Grusah to buy tickets to watch King Faisal matches?
Mr. President, I know you speak Hausa very fluently. Take this, "Da ganin akuya mei zaawo baashe kaadaga bundi nta ba". If you understand this, you will understand me well. Coming events cast their shadow.
Mr. President, things are obviously turning wrong under your administration but as a football writer, I will surely draw your attention.
I would love to end here, but lest I forget, the Black Princesses returned from the World Cup in Canada in 2014 and had to be driven out of their hotel for overstaying when the players, technical team and management were waiting for their bonuses and allowances. Oh bra Mahama, why all these?
I think the earlier you take a position on this with your executive powers, the better for Ghana football and your party
Ahaaa, finally.
All these are being perpetrated by some people to frustrate the so called 'football people'.
But Mr. President, please investigate very well because it is mother Ghana who will suffer in the end and father Mahama will surely bear the ramifications.
I would like to end here but please, tell Hon. Nii Lante Vanderpuye to pay the Black Stars' bonus after our game with Mozambique and find a way of being a leader and not a fighter before things turn out to give us a replica of what happened to the Black Queens.
Your concerned son,
Sheikh Tophic Sienu.