After five FIFA World Cup appearances, there is no way the president of our football should face Parliament's Youth and Sports Committee and
After five FIFA World Cup appearances, there is no way the president of our football should face Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee and tell them the national team’s bus is broken.
What at all is wrong with the leaders of our beautiful football? What at all is completely wrong with the politburos of our beautiful game? We need new faces to rescue the rot; no two ways about that
A country that takes massive delight in being a football nation cannot lack an ordinary bus. How much is a bus that our people can’t get our national teams at least two?
Kurt Okraku faced our parliament on Wednesday, 4th November, and was due to update them, and the entire nation, on the state of our football.
Among the things he discussed were: 1. the claims that the FA selects players for the national team, 2. Lars Kim Björkegren, who simultaneously head-coaches the Black Stars and Black Queens, has not been paid for 14 months. 3. He also disclosed that Portuguese head coach Carlos Queiroz personally left Black Stars after losing against Ivory Coast and The Gambia in the 2027 AFCON qualifiers games one and two, respectively, but was not sacked.
Among all his arguments, the one that is unacceptable and disrespectful is Kurt telling the committee that all the national teams use only one bus, which was purchased in 2008 during Kwesi Nyantakyi’s regime, and it is even broken, so they hire a bus whenever the national teams are in town.
This revelation is balderdash, and no one must even accept it.
Ghana has participated in the last two FIFA World Cups, and common sense should tell you that the cash gained from the tournaments must be invested wisely, including purchasing a bus for the teams, improving at least five pitches across the country to world-class levels and investing in youth development.
Ghana received $10.5 million, according to the Sports Minister’s confirmation in July 2023, as the financial benefit for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
FIFA initially announced a minimum allocation of $10.5 million for each qualified country for the 2026 World Cup.
Let’s combine the two figures and learn what we have benefited from the two prestigious competitions.
$21 million is the full financial package, and the big question now is: where is the dough?
The Ghana Football Association headquarters is among the capital cities for corruption in Ghana and the entire Africa. Why have leaders failed to constantly remind them what to use the money for? Why have they not been facing the law court?
We should forget about the old talk that FIFA will sanction you if the government intervene in your football. That FIFA suggestion must be binned easily when a nation’s football is in crisis.
How on earth should countries like Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania all have proper infrastructure for their football, while a country (Ghana) that has competed in five World Cups has constantly struggled for one? What do they have in common? It is one thing!
None of these countries has ever played at the FIFA World Cup, so they have not been enjoying and tasting the beauty of the game to the max like Ghana, who nearly froze in 2006 when they defeated the Czech Republic 2-0.
Ghana in the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups gained many followers and admirers across the globe because of how beautifully they played. It is annoying and disturbing to see the nation always praying that CAF will grant them the opportunity to play at home.
None of these countries has any reason to build top-notch stadiums to meet FIFA standards. Let’s take Tanzania as an example; the East Africans probably will only qualify for the World Cup when 92 teams are even allowed to compete, yet they have been investing heavily in infrastructure.
Rwanda’s Amahoro Stadium in Kigali says it all about Ghana; a country that has been in severe pain has risen from the ruins and is ahead of Ghana in terms of infrastructure. The venue has been classified as one that can host a World Cup final; fair play to them, let us all clap for them. Mind you, F1 will be staged in Rwanda in the 2030s.
Flashback to November 2024, when the Ghana Football Association shared buses with some clubs; it was so interesting and refreshing. Why would anyone think of giving buses to clubs at the expense of national teams? Kurt did so because he has been planning to seek a third term, and the clubs are the only ones who have the power to vote for him.
Regional football associations across the length and breadth of Ghana also received buses. So why has he failed to provide the national teams with some?
Such a sham decision should never be entertained because it is a slap in the face of 35 million Ghanaians.
Under no circumstances should Kurt Okraku be allowed to contest for the 3rd term because he doesn’t deserve it.
October 2027 will be his eighth year as the boss of Ghana’s football, and it is long enough for him to turn things around. The extra four years he will be seeking will not make any difference, but rather he will use them to milk the nation financially.
The Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee failed to go hard on Kurt, and I am very disappointed with how soft they were towards him.
Buses and pitches must never be lacked by a country that has won four AFCON titles and featured in five FIFA World Cups because it is the basics of running football. If you can’t guarantee quality pitches, buses and ultra-modern venues for national teams, you have no business leading any nation’s football association.
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