GFA Go Wild. Equipment Manager Called "Ball Boy"

The GFA are really angry paaaa! Oh my brother, they are so angry that the last time I passed by one of them, there was hot air coming from his nostrils, ears and mouth, not to mention that other taboo orifice. How dare Mr Dzimifa? How dare him call our highly qualified, international kit manager "a ball boy?"



"It is apparent that the description of the kit manager as a 'ball boy' is calculated to bring disaffection for the person in charge of the position even though his role is key for the highly-tuned professionals to perform at the top-level."



And they are actually going to court, the GFA, not to deny the fact that the man was paid a cool hundred thousand dollars for carrying balls and jerseys around, but to express how angry they are, that a man in such a "technically demanding" position, needed to complement our "highly-tuned professionals" is being ridiculed as a mere "ball boy".



Yet, it seems that it is only in Ghana that our players are so "highly-tuned" that we need a 100,000 dollar equally highly -tuned hand to carry their balls around. This is the BBCs reaction;



"Consider a world in which the England kit man is paid as big an appearance fee as Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart or Raheem Sterling.


Tough to imagine? Not so if you worked for Ghana's Football Association at the 2014 World Cup where their "equipment officer" earned $100,000 (£64,000), according to a government report."



No, the BBC got it wrong. What they do not know, is that our players are highly- tuned!! Aha! There-in lies the difference.



And how does one become a "ball boy" for the Ghana Fooball Association? Where was the job advertised? When were the interviews held? How many people were interviewed? What was the job requirement and specification? What qualification did one have to have to apply? I promise you, if I had seen that advert, I would have left my job as a gynaecologist in the UK to apply.



And come to think of it, why should a team manager, video analyst, psychologist, and even a doctor earn the same appearance fees as the footballers who people pay to go and see? It only happens in Ghana where people have become so clever and efficient in the swindling of public funds into their own pockets. I wonder what percentage of the cash actually went into Hamidu's pocket?



And they have the audacity to lecture us about "highly-tuned!". Indeed!



Papa Appiah
Www.ghanansemsem.blogspot.com
Byhisglory2014@yahoo.co.uk

Little Differences

Little Differences - NPP and NDC, Ghana and Nigeria

There are little differences between NPP and NDC officials, according to Mr Kennedy Agyapong, a guy I have been listening to a fair bit lately. I don't know whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, listening to Kennedy Agyapong. The guy is quite engaging. Did you know, that apart from Walter Bloomberg, Kennedy Agyapong claims to be richer than every American parliamentarian? Did you know, that all his children are educated in America and his eldest is studying to be a neurosurgeon? His annual bill for school fees is in excess of two hundred thousand dollars?

You cannot help but be impressed by his intelligence, though he makes a deliberate attempt to conceal it in political discussions preferring, perhaps as a political tactic, to sound like a street mob. He is so forthwright and honest in his views, except when you attempt to enquire about the source of his wealth, when he becomes all defensive. He attacks his detraractors for linking him to the drugs trade and questions where they were when he was washing plates in Germany and driving cabs in the USA. Ebei, Mr Agyapong, we are talking of a multi-million dollar wealth here and all you can tell us about its source, is driving cabs?

Anyway, as I was saying, Kennedy Agyapong believes there is one significant between NDC and NPP officials. An NPP official takes his margins and delivers the goods. While an NDC official takes his share and does not get the job done. So basically, they all take their margins, as he calls it. This is a guy who was in government and was involved in negotiations for the award of contracts for the Bui dam. He must know what he is talking about.

Which reminds me of a story I heard some years ago. There was a Ghanaian and an Indian in Oxford university in the forties. They both finished and went back home to help in various political struggles, becoming important ministers in their countries. The Indian invited his Ghanaian friend to visit. The Ghanaian went over and was amazed at the opulence displayed by his friend.

"How did you do it?" The Ghanaian asked

"Come, my friend" the Indian said, taking his friend to the window.

"You see that motorway over there? Ten percent!" The Indian said

"Oh okaaaay!" The Ghanaian nodded.

Two years later, the Ghanaian invited the Indian to Ghana. The Indian was shocked his friend had become much richer than he was.

" How did you do it?" The Indian asked

"Come my friend" the Ghanaian said, taking his friend to the window. " You see that motorway over there?"

The Indian craned his neck. There were a few scattered equipment but no motorway.

"Hundred percent" said the Ghanaian.

There are little differences between Ghanaians and Nigerians. In the words of a British old lady I met who was proud to tell me she spent part of her youth in both Ghana and Nigeria as a daughter of a colonial civil servant, Ghanaians are more "peaceful". Difficult to understand what she really meant by that, and she could not explain it either but I've resorted to calling my Nigerian friends, " Our noisy neighbors". Of course there are exceptions, but on the whole, as a Ghanaian working in the diaspora, I would rather have a Nigerian boss than a Ghanaian. The Nigerian will treat you like his own brother, if you show him respect.

There are other differences too. Nigerians celebrate the birth of a child and love to celebrate their birthdays with big parties. Once a man dies, they make much less fuss. Ghanaians enjoy their funerals. People wait for their relatives to die and then try to turn the funeral into business ventures and make profit. Family disputes begin at funerals as people engage in vicious manoevres to appropriate as much wealth to themselves as they can. You are judged in society by how much fuss you can make when your parents die.

And I believe Nigerians are doers, and Ghanaians talkers. Just listen to Akuffo Addo.

He was asked - Buhari's decision to declare his assets publicly ahead of the election reinforced his anti-corruption credentials. Would Akufo-Addo be willing to do the same?

"Personally, I would. I can't speak for the views of my col- leagues, but I think it is a debate that we're going to have long before the election. We should not be grandstanding.

"Let the parliament have a look at this to decide the is- sues of disclosure and confidentiality so that it isn't just an example that's set by one or two people but an obligation that covers all office holders," he explains.

Quite inspiring, I thought. Big English! But what does it really mean? Your guess is as good as mine.

Papa Appiah

Byhisglory2014@yahoo.co.uk

Let Me Die In A Flood

Let Me Die In A Flood!!

I would rather die in a flood. At least the president will be there. Minority leaders and former presidents may visit my family. Even foreign presidents would come in to pledge support for my grieving family.The president may give a speech, in a sad voice of course, in remembrance of me. There may be three days of national mourning and flags may fly at half-mast . Years after I'm gone, my story may remain on the lips of my countrymen, and if my death inspired the building of but one single gutter, it would not have been in vain. My family may even benefit from 60 million GHC promised by the government, if it materializes.


Since the recent flood incident in Accra, houses are being hurriedly demolished; houses built from years of sweat and toil and for which permits may have been provided by some corrupt official somewhere. Some petrol stations that people are depending on to feed their children and pay their school fees are being demolished. There have been no tears for those affected. Whatever has to be will be. Anything must be done to ensure that the president does not get another opportunity to give a sad speech.


By the end of the year, however, over 1600 Ghanaians would have died from road accidents, just going about their normal duties.(National Road Safety Commission) 60% of these accidents would be the result of overspeeding by negligent drivers. These deaths will occur with no cameras in sight. So of course, there will be no presidential visits. There will be no sad presidential speeches, no three days of mourning and no flags will fly at half-mast. Their bodies will be picked up and thrown like rubbish unto the back of lorries and deposited in the nearest hospital.


Mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers may undertake the lonely trip to take their dead and bring them back home. The incident will never be investigated. There will be no payment of compensation. The person responsible for the accident may never have taken a driving test in his life and who cares. Some people receive their driver's license even before they learn to drive.


Nobody goes to jail for causing an accident while driving under the influence of alcohol or even for driving while legally unqualified to do so. It's all in the hands of God. Like everything else in Ghana - the economy, education, corruption, we needed somebody to put their neck on the block and do something radical to effect changes that many would not be happy with. We cannot rely on our president to do that. There are just too many votes at stake.


And so it was with joy that I learnt the DVLA had taken the initiative to introduce stringent measures to ensure that our driving culture changes once and for all. Among other directives, drivers ought to have attended a driving school prior to being issued a license or having their license renewed. The drivers rebelled, blocked streets in Accra and elsewhere, and shouted loudly enough in microphones to have the measures suspended.


And people expected to know better, leaders in our communities jumped on the bandwagon and childish populism, by defending the drivers and lambasting the DVLA. I heard a vice chairman of the CPP complain on Newsfile, that there are no driving schools in a town like Bawku. What about the investment opportunities and the jobs to be created if the laws came into force, as people rushed to establish schools all over the country?


I heard Kwesi Pratt complain about the arrogance of the DVLA and the need to start off with education and advocating the establishment of extra classes for drivers who may have been driving for years, and who depend on driving to look after their families. But then again, what about people losing their houses and their petrol stations to help stop the perennial floods in Accra? Don't they have families to look after, children to feed? Why can't drivers pay for extra classes themselves to help them comply with the new regulations?


1600 people are going to die on the road this year alone, and we sit in radio stations to spew rubbish about somebody losing their job because they can't improve themselves? If drivers are incapable of raising themselves to the new challenge, they could try fasting for forty days and forty nights and turning to Evangelism. Very lucrative, Evangelism. They could also try popping out their eyes and begging for arms in our streets. In the extreme, we could provide them with free ropes at taxpayer's expense and turn the other way.


Anything is better than allowing 1600 people to die from the ignorance and negligence of poorly trained drivers on our roads.


Papa Appiah
Byhisglory2014@yahoo.co.uk