I didn’t expect to feel anything during the Black Stars match with the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in the 2015 African Cup of Nations finals. I didn’t even expect them to make it to the finals. After all, it was this team that humiliated Ghanaians in Brazil during the 2014 World Cup. I was still carrying a grudge over the Brazil debacle.
I had been indifferent until Ghana’s final match. Still, I found myself screaming and pacing during the Black Stars match against the Elephants. The Black Stars played like the team did against the Germans in the World Cup. Remember that match where the Stars matched the Germans goal for goal? The Black Stars found their mojo and played with the same purpose against the Ivorians. They played like it mattered.
There was no way one could watch the team play their hearts out and not feel anything. I felt a bit of my love for the Black Stars return. A part of me even started to will them to victory. They deserved a win for playing with such commitment. It’s a shame they lost the match after playing so well. While I am sorry the boys didn’t get the ultimate prize (exact revenge for the 1992 team), I am delighted they lost the trophy. Before you grab your sticks, hear me out.
I’m glad the government won’t be able to justify its questionable decisions with a victory. Once again, someone at the top decided that flying supporters to watch the team in Equatorial Guinea was a worthy use of national resources. Supporters (of the governing party) were flown to Equatorial Guinea on 700,000 dollar flights.
The trips were all reportedly funded by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). The government claims it had no money to buy crude to power some of the generating plants, but it mysteriously had enough to fly supporters to Equatorial Guinea. It wasn’t long ago that grown men were weeping in front of other men over similar decisions. The government seems not to have learned anything from the 2014 World Cup mess.
What annoyed me most was the decision to import electricity from Cote d’Ivoire (still recovering from war) so Ghanaians could enjoy two hours of football. The power companies have been instructed to shed 130 megawatts of power. This poor judgment is supposed to ensure that Ghanaians forget two years of load-shedding. They know many of us are desperate for fleeting moments of joy, so they scraped to buy power.
It is an insult for a government to manipulate its citizens this way, but everyone knows Ghanaians like short-term comfort. They knew many of us would forget the hot, sweaty nights and the pain of Dumsor if they gave us two hours of light. We would have indeed forgotten the deplorable roads, hospitals, and schools.
We have all heard President John Mahama say we (Ghanaians) have a short memory. Nothing upsets us for too long, and no one gets punished for betraying our trust. This victory would have been just the accurate dose of deception the government needed to induce the amnesia. Had the team won the trophy, that success would’ve been used to whitewash the Ghana Football Association, the government, the Ministry of Sports, and the Dzamefe Commission’s report.
A win would have given us a false sense of importance and sent the government into believing (what the cool people describe as) their own ‘hype’ – that we are truly the best on this continent.
Thankfully, no one will have to remind Ghanaians of the flaws and the incompetence of the Mahama government.
I agree with you Nana Ama. I was also glad that they lost. I used to support Black Stars with my heart. Not anymore! Why should I?
We have misplaced priorities. Doctors/teachers/nurses can all go on strike for unpaid allowance/salaries but govt would not care. Yet we shamefully flew $3m to the Black Stars.
As you mentioned, we buy power for football but don’t care about industries collapsing because of dumsor. There is absolutely no sense in that.
Enough of black stars!!
I couldn’t agree with you more Ama, the loss of the trophy is more a blessing to us Ghanaians than winning it would have been.The boys did play their hearts out though and that is something we would like to see more often in the future when hopefully a win would be something to look forward to and to appreciate, this was just not that time.
Absolutely agree with you nana ama @ least it made mahama ayariga return home a sports minister not a gfa official.
He (ayariga) could now disclose the budget to Ghanaians. Unfortunately he has resulted to insulting journalists instead of answering the questions posed to him. Indeed our leaders do not learn.
In any case why should a sports minister be travelling with the blackstars to every competition ….. Do they follow the Ghanaian boxers too when there is an event?
The “Bread and circuses” tactic has worked since the roman empire and is still perfectly working in our day, fellow Ghanaians… The games, be it AFCON, Olypmpics, World Cup, etc. etc., are there to divert attention from matters that really do matter(electricity, education, health, social justice etc. etc.) and provide momentary appeasement for the failures of our society.
To stay within the context of football, here is the perfect illustration of the african scandal, what I call the Asamoah Gyan syndrome: playing a world cup quarter final game, getting a penalty kick awarded in the 90th. minute, woefully squandering it and blaming L. Suarez for your failure… That is the african scandal: endowed and blessed with every possible natural resource, still manage to be poor(because of incompetence and inability) and always finding somebody or something to blame for our our failures and troubles…
The Asamoah Gyan syndrome!