Why pay to investigate the loss of the Black Stars in Brazil?
Once again Ghana made headlines in World Cup 2014 in Brazil, this time, however, for the wrong reasons. In 2010 in South Africa Ghana for the first time in a second appearance in a World Cup meet was able to progress to the quarter finals. The team’s ouster by Uruguay was an unfortunate episode.
The Black Stars on 2014 had no reason to be edged out at that early stage. The team was perhaps one of the most professional in recent times and its performances in all three games were world class. It is no wonder the president thinks an investigation into the failure of the Stars is necessary.
Amandla, thinks otherwise: probing a sporting team’s performance is not what is needed now. The Ghanaian tax payer has already spent more than enough on the games and should not be taxed any further. Why else should the people shell out more money for an investigation that would not be any useful to the future of the game of football or even change the course of events in the country? Examples of such commissions yielding nothing abound aplenty.
Brazil 2014 gave the world an idea of how things are run in Ghana. At a time in history when trillions of dollars are sent round the world with the touch of few buttons, shipping more than $3 million from Ghana to Brazil sounds more like organized crime. It is in fact illegal to make such transfers anyway. And worse still the money attracted a tax of 17 percent in Brazil. Obviously nobody thought it prudent or cared to find out the legal implications of the act.
The fights and the alleged indiscipline shown by Sulley Muntari and Kevin Prince Boateng further indicate the state of the camp of the Stars in Brazil. It is also a poor reflection on the management that must be addressed.
Amandla opines that instead of an elaborate and expensive investigation, all those involved in any act of indiscipline or financial malfeasance must be made to face the book through legal channels and not commissions whose work are mostly shelved, in the name of politics. Ghana’s image has been dented and needs to be redeemed but not at an unnecessarily high cost.
Football or soccer is now an export commodity and it is time Ghanaian authorities recognized it and gave it the needed attention it deserves.
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