Ghana Sports need BT Baba

I have been waiting with bated breath on the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) to bat an eyelid to claims I made in the 28-29, October edition of the Graphic Sports regarding how some monies received from the International Olympic Committee and the Queens office for training and our preparations have been trafficked and used for purposes other than what it was earmarked for.

Since that revelation I have noticed some eerie happenings occurring, where some people have been tailing me wherever I go and I do not know for what purpose, however this will not cow me into submission from doing what my conscience tells me is right.

That said, the memory of Alfred Nobel will remain forever with humanity not only because he invented dynamite but because he was the originator of the concept of awarding excellence in science and the cause of peace.

The memory of Mahatma Ghandi is revered by Indians not because he was an apostle of the passive-resistance which became a precursor to Indian sovereignty but he led Indians to attain sovereign status just as the name Booker T Washington memory will remain immortal in the sages of America not only because he brought to light the Tuskegee Institute, but because he also sponsored technical education for blacks in America.

I guess many are wracking their brains over why my eyes or mind is fixed on the venerable Benson Tongo Baba.

I am fixated with the Member of Parliament for the Talensi constituency for a number of reasons and I will be walking you through them and I feel nauseated in regard to attempts by some figures to relegate and suppress the memory of Honourable Benson Tongo Baba into obscurity.

When BT Baba, assumed the reins of the Ghana Olympic Committee, sports in the country was going through rocky-patches however his reign in a little over three saw the country earn considerable improvement.

On becoming the chieftain, the ANOOCA bigwig turned words into action, and attention was focused on sustaining the success story chalked up under his reign.

Efficient, efficient and administrative guile which was his hallmark endeared him to the hearts of all and sundry, soon BT as he is better known started catching the fancy of the bigwigs or the big guns of the International Olympic Committee and the continental body, ANOOCA.

Today the Ghana Olympic Committee in the post-BT Baba era is nothing to write home about, with its managers clueless, insipid, without depth and spineless in terms of ideas to help give sports a shot in the arm.

Going forward I am stating without fear of being taken to the cleaners that apart from football the other sporting disciplines are adrift, wandering aimlessly in the wilderness. Things have deteriorated to such a level to the point that Ghana boxing will not be answering the roll call when next year's Olympic Games hit the ground running; leaving the ordinary lover of the game asking which direction the discipline is headed. The lovers of sports in the country have lost confidence and are asserting that sports are dying a natural death.

Money is nothing if it is not backed with a good working plan. A striker may have the golden boots but will still be useless if he has no skills to put the ball in the back of the net.

What I am saying is that it is about time we stop paying eye-service or lip-service with the appointment of misfits to the sports sector I am opining that for us to reclaim our glory we must set a long-term development program and work assiduously towards it, having said this, to achieve something meaningful and significant, we need a pragmatic sports administrator-Benson Tongo Baba is our safe bet.

As an enthusiast interested in the prosperity of sports I think it is time we changed our ways and paid attention to running sports as an industry, contending that the honourable member of Parliament for the Talensi constituency will give us that fresh option to exhume sports from its present state of putrefaction. The putrid smell of decay will need not just an enthusiast of the game but would require an astute manager and a versed entrepreneur. I insist BT Baba fits the bill.

I am once again entreating President John Dramani Mahama to appoint Honourable BT Baba to the Sports ministry or as a Sports adviser at the Presidency to halt the dwindling fortunes of sports.

I want to articulate that i don't have the name for attacking the competence of officers charged with the responsibilities to manage a sector ministry however, it is important that the President appointed an astute, professional and experienced sports administrator as was the case during the General Kutu Ignatius Acheampong era to provide professional advice to develop sports in the country.

I read that Sempe Asante, who was the adviser to General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong during his regime, was credited with many of the country's sports achievements, stressing that the National Democratic Congress is blessed with the most experienced and competent sports entrepreneur, Benson Tongo Baba who could offer good advice on sports at the presidency or be at the helm at the sports ministry.

REVELATIONS OF THE PUTRID SMELL OF DECAY BEDEVILING SPORTS IN THE COUNTRY

The All Africa Games is over so many would reckon that it's all water under the bridge so it should be banished from our thoughts, be that as it may I will bring to light events that surrounded our participation to the point that certain sports officials ganged up to as it were bring government and the sports ministry into disrepute and the bottom-line is that we must to get to the bottom of that shambolic attitudes by our various federations heads regarding whose brainchild was to undertake that inimical stance in the lead up to the All Africa Games. Far too many times we have had these insanity gaining grounds and it is time to nip this canker in the bud Going forward is it not absurd for the chairmen of the various federations to complain bitterly about inadequate funds in the led up to the All Africa Games.

Weren't the federations heads aware that funds have been provided for some of these competitions they compete in by the international bodies for example the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Olympic games, the Queens office for the commonwealth games and I am told that the Africa body gives help in terms of finance to helps participating teams prepare for the games.

FACTS

I have wondered why the Ministry of Youth and Sports are oblivious of this going forward i will be blunt by saying that the Ghana Olympic Committee under the Francis Doodo led administration is leading the country's sports a merry dance on nowhere.

So I want to bounce this questions off the Ghana Olympic Committee and the onus is on its president and teams to give answers over the whereabouts of the monies the international bodies gave, including the ones left in the kitty after the unceremonious exit of Benson Tongo Baba.

I begin by asking how much money came from the Queens office to the Ghana Olympic Committee for the Commonwealth Games and how much did they also receive from the sports ministry to participate at the commonwealth games, soldiering on how much in terms of money did the Ghana Olympic Committee receive as grants from the International Olympic Committee as allocation to enhance Ghana's preparations for the London Olympics.

I am daring the GOC officials come clean on the matter and tell us how much they receive as per diem from the sports ministry when available evidence points to the fact that during BT Baba's time, he never took a dime from the Sports ministry as per diem because the international bodies caters for its officials during such competitions.

I read somewhere that the federations under the National Sports Authority touting that they have autonomy status. I think that call is bogus and needless and an attempt to pull the veil over our eyes, contending that if they claim they are autonomous, then they do not need a farthing from government, because autonomous groups such as the Dressmakers Association of Ghana and the Hairdressers and Beautician Association of Ghana do not rely on government's funds for funding their operations.

The Ghana Olympic Committee bigwigs are not modernizers and reformers, thus they are not open to ideas that will propel sports in the country to the dizzy heights and i can bet my bottom dollar that they can't seize the moral high ground in this debate.

What is even shocking is that the former GOC president was removed from office under the pretext that he was a sympathizer and had become a bedfellow with the now opposition party, then in government and that assumption has turned out to be false with available evidence pointing to the former chieftain being a dyed-in-the wool or bonafide member of the ruling party.

It is crystal clear that the Ghana Olympic Committee under the Member of Parliament for Talensi, Benson Tongo Baba was a bonafide, reputable organization, arguing that today members are voting with their feet and only few attend meeting of the GOC under the auspices of its extant chieftain.

In wrapping up i further wants to quiz about the London 2012 in regard to certain happenings that became an embarrassment to us-did a lady by name Ophelia Okine through her solicitors bring a suit against our chef de mason for reneging on the contract agreement reached between her and the Ghanaian team to cook for the contingent that represented the country.

During the London 2012 apart from Vida Anim, Margaret Simpson, Ignatius Gaizah, Emmanuel Nartey-the gentleman at the heart of the alleged fisticuffs between him and Professor Francis Doodo and the two boxers who else joined the Ghanaian contingent. I think the chef du mason must also provide answers in connection with an alleged bloated wage bill sent to the sports ministry to pay for expenses incurred on fifty people when in fact it was six athletes that were accredited for the London, 2012.

Before I take a bow, my mind boggles over certain transfers came to light at the National Sports Authority and the Ministry of Youth and Sports and I ask why was Erasmus Adokor and the former Chief Director and about twenty-five officers transferred to other ministries and agencies.

Moving forward I want Mr Erasmus Adokor to celebrate because i have an information that points to the fact that because his institutional memory is spot on and is a repository of information in respect of some of the eerie happenings at the Olympics, Commonwealth and the Maputo Games he was sacrificed as a scrape-goat, having said that I detest these behaviours from officials who refuses to talk or volunteer information on misdeeds by public officials who in the discharge of the duties become loose-canons, stressing that Ghanaians must learn how to draw the line between an official appointed to a specific area of jurisdiction and the actions of government.

If an official falls short of the requirement we should not jump to conclusion, blaming his faux paus on government and in this regard I expect the Sports Ministry to haul the Ghana Olympic Committee officials before it to answer questions in relation to the claims provided in this article, rather than calling me to the ministry to volunteer information regarding what the sector has an oversight.

I can say without fear of being taken to the cleaners and I am daring anybody from the GOC who can bat an eyelid to my assertions or claims to join this fray to disprove what I have asserted.

BY JOHN ASHONG-METTLE