Hundreds of soccer enthusiasts demonstrate to demand reforms in Ghana football
Hundreds of concerned Ghanaian football fans, led by top sports journalists, staged a demonstration to vent their frustrations over the decline of football in the country.
They were dressed in black branded t-shirts, singing and chanting to demand football reforms.
The “Save Ghana Football Demo” was triggered by the poor performance of the senior national team, the Black Stars, at the just-ended 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as “Sika Di Basabasa Montwa So,” “Decline in Our Football,” “Minister, Be Firm or be Fired,” “Grow Our Sports, Not Your Football Clubs.” Others read, “Football is for All of Us,” “Football is Our Passion, Don’t Kill It, Kurt,” “Fix the Fundamentals of Ghana Football Now,” “Decline in our juvenile football,” “Lack of Vision,” “Our Domestic League has collapsed” among others. Additional inscriptions included, “stop spoiling our bets,” “we used to be the Brazilians of Africa, what happened?”
Despite agitation over the route to be used, the demonstration started at the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange and passed through Asylum Down to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital.
An attempt to present a petition to the Sports Ministry was denied access by the police.
The demonstration finally ended at the Black Star Square, where attendees were addressed by conveners regarding the proposal submitted to appropriate authorities.
Addressing the gathered crowd at the Black Star Square, Sports Journalist Saddick Adams (Sports Obama), a Lead Convenor of the demonstration, expressed gratitude to fans for showing up in their numbers to support the cause of revamping Ghanaian football.
Notable figures among the journalists spearheading the demonstration included Saddick Adams, widely known as ‘Sports Obama,’ Patrick Osei Agyemang, popularly referred to as ‘Countryman Songo,’ alongside Veronica Commey, Nana Yaw Kesse, Odiahenkan, and others who rallied behind the cause.
“We want the President of Ghana and Parliament to institute a committee to investigate our participation at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as well as AFCON 2023 regarding the budget.
“Those who took $100,000 at the World Cup should return it to the state budget, and we demand accountability, especially with the sponsorships we got for our national team.
“We want the government to dissolve all management committees, and we have proposed how our teams should be run in the petition presented to all stakeholders,” he said.
Saddick Adams also demanded the immediate dissolution of the committee put together to search for a new coach for the Black Stars and called for an interim technical team to be put in place by the close of the week to investigate what happened at the 2023 AFCON.
“No taxpayer’s money should be used to pay GFA officials, as those monies could be used to develop our colts football, women’s league, and our league,” he said.
The convenors presented their petition to Parliament, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, as well as other stakeholders. Heavy security accompanied demonstrators as they walked through the principal streets of Accra to present a proposal for football reforms to the Sports Authorities. The Black Stars’ exit at the group stage of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations marks the third consecutive major tournament in which the team has failed to progress from the first round. The Kurt Okraku-led Ghana Football Association is searching for a fifth Black Stars coach since coming into office five years ago.
