[ 2015-01-29 ]

You must be a "courageous fool" not to learn from the World Cup debacle - Kweku Baako
Kweku Baako Jnr., Editor-in-Chief of the New
Crusading Guide, has described any person who
fails to pick lessons from the humiliation that
the national team, the Black Stars and the
country's Football administrators experienced at
the 2014 FIFA World Cup as a "courageous fool."

Addressing some pertinent issues regarding Ghana's
participation at the on-going 2015 African Cup of
Nations on PeaceFM's flagship programme,
"Kokrokoo", Kweku Baako said he seriously expects
the football authorities and the Ministry of
Sports, under the leadership of the Hon. Mahama
Ayariga, to learn from the embarrassment suffered
by the Black Stars at the FIFA World Cup
tournament held in Brazil.

In what will go down as a blot on the country's
sporting image, angry Black Stars players vowed to
honour travel arrangements for their final group
game against Portugal. The players threatened to
boycott the trip to Marceo protesting the
non-payment of allowances and appearance fees
during the football wembley in Brazil.

The situation was so volatile that President John
Dramani Mahama had to personally intervene. He
reportedly spoke to the players via the phone of
FA Chairman Kwasi Nyantakyi before calm was
restored in the camp.

Matters came to a head when AC Milan star Sulley
Muntari and Shalke 04 playmaker Kevin Prince
Boateng were sacked from the team by head coach
James Kwasi Appiah. The coach and management of
the team felt the continuous stay of the two stars
in the camp could be a distraction to the team
after they were said to have been embroiled in
extreme indiscipline and involved in other
troublesome acts at the teams' camp.

As a result, President John Mahama set up a
Presidential Commission to probe Ghana’s
disastrous Brazil 2014 campaign and furnish him
with the report; the content of which is yet to be
known.

In light of the Brazil debacle, many football
pundits, were anxiously looking forward to the
announcement of the National team’s budget for
this year’s Africa’s elite football
competition hoping the current Sports Minister,
Mahama Ayariga and the GFA will take a cue from
the criticisms and accusations that were hurled at
the former Sports Minister, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah.

But the current Sports Ministry has also failed to
go by the normal routine of publicizing the Black
Stars budget by refusing to release the budget for
this year's AFCON, though the team has qualified
for the next stage of the tournament; raising
talks of mischief among some football
enthusiasts.

Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi, Kweku Baako
bemoaned the Sports Ministry's inability to make
available the budget for this year's AFCON,
wondering what was so special about the budget
that it has compelled the Ministry to keep its
cards to its chest.

He noted that a person has to be "such a
courageous fool to say that against the backdrop
of the Brazilian saga which has not even been
finally resolved", one will seek to court
unnecessary media attention or dabble in any form
of needless controversy.

Kweku Baako therefore wants the Ministry to the
transparent and come clear on the budget for the
2015 AFCON.

Source - Peacefmonline

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