Obviously, the motive behind the concept is sincere, hence the spontaneous approval from the ordinary Ghanaian on the street to the first gentleman of the land, the Speaker of Parliament and members of the legislative chamber and the like.
The new craze in town reminds me of the most popular Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) introduced by President Xi Jinping to support China's development partners, including Ghana. That audacious policy sounds good in the ears of Ghanaians, as well as the Chinese.
Perhaps, our politicians can take a cue from the success of the #Bringbackthelove campaign to drive home their policies to Ghanaians henceforth without sweat. Watching the recent Ghana-South Africa AFCON qualifier in Cape Coast from afar, the euphoria alone was a clear message that a new wind was blowing around the Black Stars.
The electrifying atmosphere at the packed stadium brought back fond memories of how the entire nation used to follow the senior national team, especially when they first qualified for their maiden FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006. No wonder the new Ghana Football Association (GFA) slogan seeks to achieve the same target.
On a lighter note, this is the interesting headline one national television station in China had for the Black Stars game against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa: 'Chinese-built stadium to host Ghana-South Africa AFCON qualifier.' As a sat behind the TV set in my hotel room in Beijing, I needed no prophet to break down what that headline sought to portray.
Of course, the new Cape Coast Stadium was built by China through the effort of the late President John Atta Mills. And one of the lessons I learnt in China is that those people don't take things for granted like we do in this country. For them, everything matters!
Relating that to the #Bringbackthelove campaign aimed at mobilising nationwide support for the various national teams, especially the Black Stars, I appeal to all Ghanaians to catch the spirit behind it and run with it so it does not become a nine-day wonder. The players themselves have admitted that they need the entire nation behind them to help them achieve the desired results.
We all know the kind of unity and other economic benefits that the nation derived from the successes of the Black Stars in the past.
Though we have a relatively young team currently, I still believe they have the potential to achieve a lot for the nation, given the necessary support. The recent back-to-back victories over South Africa and Sao Tome and Principe gave credence to that.
As for the GFA president, Kurt Okraku, you can trust him to craft more of such slogans to drive his audacious manifesto aimed at igniting passion and creating wealth for all stakeholders of Ghana Football. As the chairman of the MTN FA Cup in 2017, he came out with the thrilling #Unmissable mantra out of the blue to drive that historic final between Hearts and Kotoko in Tamale on October 29, which the latter won 3-1, courtesy goals by Saddick Adams.
While rallying support for the various national teams, I think it is equally important to ensure that the main characters are adequately catered for to enable them to produce the desired results. In fact, I strongly believe that Ghanaians love their football and will naturally support the Black Stars if they do well.
In that case, we should spend our energies more on how to build a strong Black Stars team and motivate them to be more competitve in order to court the love of Ghanaians naturally, without any persuasion or coercion.
I will, therefore, advise the Ministry of Youth and Sports to ensure prompt payment of the team's winning bonuses and other remunerations as was the case in the past to bring about thenbest in the players and technocal handlers always. For instance, the present situation where players and officials of the Black Stars have still not been paid their winning bonuses barely three weeks after the South Africa and Sao Tome and Principe games does not augur well for the team, especially where Christmas is just at the corner.
Such tendencies can affect the morale of players and ultimately lead to poor performance. Once we want the love back from Ghanaians, we must be ready to invest in the appropriate areas of our game that can get us the required results. One such area is the prompt payment of good winning bonuses. For now, the $5,000 per player winning bonus for the Black Stars can be maintained.
Beyond that, the GFA needs to constitute an efficient Management Committee that can help restore the Black Stars to its glorious past. That is not negotiable!
As for the Stars technical team, they have so far proved to be up to the task with the first two wins in the 2021 AFCON qualifiers last month. They only need total support to take us to the Promised Land.
In this era of slogans, let me leave my own here for the appropriate authorities: #Bringbackprompt Starsbonus. Read Full Story
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