Ghana's jungle justice: Reconsidering football investment

If we fail to be sincere with one another in times of jokes, hopefully we should not be doing the same in a time of seriousness. I still maintain the fact that football is all about entertainment and in national concerns, football should not cloud our common sense of purpose, as is the case now.

To start with, there seems to be too much ado about Ghana and the recent tournament in South Africa for some of us to start asking ourselves some important questions:

- Is Ghana the first country in Africa to be the first ever African country to qualify in the World Cup?
- Was Ghana the only African team that has come so far in the World Cup tournament?
- If I may recall, African countries like Egypt, Morocco, Cameroon and Nigeria have been to the so-called World Cup and failed all along, so it is becoming obvious that frustrations are setting in. When will Ghana start realising that we are just another bunch of jjcs on a fruitless mission?
- How much did it cost the Ghanaian taxpayer for this publicity?
- Could there be any other motive behind the sitting government's effort in spending so much on the tournament for this?
- Now that the hype is starting again about another World Cup tournament in four years' time in Brazil, is this not another excuse to waste and loot the taxpayer's money for another fruitless adventure, and this time start the stealing and looting much earlier?
- In the absence of nothing, everything goes. Is this football fever not another way of preoccupying the oppressed Ghanaians in their daily pains of their heavy burden, just like the drug cocaine helps in falsely relieving the oppressed from an unbearable plight?
- Understanding that the sitting president is one of the religious zombies that live in the hallucinations of spiritual dreams, is this not a way of indulging Ghanaians in his false hopes?
- Could one not liken this to the way our sisters and brothers are electrified by the empty noises led by false prophets that go on with religious delusions?

On another note, the fact that some of us are football fanatics is not enough for lies to be a way of promoting such selfish diseases. Is it not disturbing for us to be told by the NDC (National Democratic Congress) spokespeople within the CPP (Convention People's Party) that Ghana's government made US$50 million as income from Fifa (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) when in reality another version has it that the amount is actually US$15 million? Is it not bad that people of integrity among us will go to the extent of telling us that the income to Ghana is in US$ billions and that there is a line-up of investors in sports manufacturing industries, when this is not the case?

Now in the same Ghana where people in their thousands sleep on the street of the Ghana government, the same government is now running up and down to build a mansion for just one family with the taxpayer's money. Where are those defending and justifying the football lagies of a few people in the name of football as against the lives of some others deep down beneath the earth in Ghana?

It is very important for us all not to make the mistake of misunderstanding the ideals that Kwame Nkrumah died fighting for. Kwame Nkrumah lived for a justice that touches the life of every Ghanaian. The Convention People's Party stands for nothing other than the fight for justice for every Ghanaian. Now that it is appearing that some of us are fighting for the justice of some at the cost of justice for all – in their defence of supporting the privileges of the strong against the right of the weak – our job in mentally reviewing our mission and perceptions is now a challenge. If the CPP must be for every Ghanaian, then everyone must not only be crying at the loss of one of us but also argue against the injustices that breed these things. It was very unfortunate that some of us were carried away at the hour by the euphoria of the football and too deep to the extent of not taking advantage of being there for the needy at the most crucial time. This was indeed an opportunity for us to show Ghanaians that we're the genuine ones for the people, but we lost it. The lessons must be learnt!

If a Ghanaian footballer is allowed the privilege and honour of playing for the Black Stars, is that in itself not good enough? If we are investing the Ghanaian taxpayer's money from the beginning of the tournament to the end, should that not be considered as an investment by every Ghanaian? If each player is now going home with US$100,000 as purported by some, is it not as well for every Ghanaian to be able to tangibly know how much they also earned as the game was actually played in our common name of Ghana?

This phenomenon is exposing certain realities in our lives in Ghana. If a footballer played for Ghana and all the income made from the game is just enough to pay the players, then what kind of business is this? Is this not the same thing that goes with our taxation in which what's collected by government is only enough to meet with the needs of government officials and members of parliament? Is this not the reason why government is quick to tell the citizens that there is no money for anything other than just meeting the selfish needs of upper-class public officials? This stinks! When shall it end?!

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