Nana Addo presents 25,000 GHc to 1965 Afcon team

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential candidate for 2016, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, yesterday gave 11 surviving members of Ghana’s 1965 AFCON team an early Christmas gift when he presented GH¢25,000 cash to them.

The money was meant to redeem a pledge the NPP Presidential candidate made to the team at their Golden Jubilee fund-raising dinner on December 3, 2015 at the Sun Lodge Hotel.

Nana Akufo-Addo personally handed over the cash to five members of the 1965 AFCON team who paid a courtesy call on him at his residence in Accra.

The members – Reverend Kofi Pare, John Bortey Naawu, Dodoo Ankrah, Wilberforce Mfum and Reverend Osei Kofi were in his house to express their gratitude for his immense support during their Golden Jubilee celebrations which came off on December 3 and 4, 2015.

In an address, Nana Akufo-Addo described the 1965 AFCON team as legends who laid a solid foundation for the current successes that were being chalked up by the senior national team, the Black Stars.

He added that his financial contribution to a fund for the 11 surviving members of the team which lifted the 1965 AFCON trophy in Tunisia was a way of thanking them for their selfless service to the nation.

He also lauded the Despite Group of Companies for taking it upon themselves to recognise the achievements of the nation’s sporting heroes.

A member of the 1965 AFCON team, Rev. Osei Kofi, who received the money on their behalf, said although the Golden Jubilee celebrations was supposed to have been organised by the government, the Despite Group of Companies took over that mantle, and with the support of patriotic Ghanaian citizens such as Nana Akufo-Addo, the event was a huge success.

He also mentioned that although a lot of pledges were made on the night of the 1965 AFCON fund-raising dinner at the Sun Lodge Hotel in Accra, only a few individuals and organisations such as Kofaa Atta, the Christ Apostolic Church of Ghana, Prophet Emmanuel Badu Kobi, Founder of Glorious Waves Church International, and Nana Akufo-Addo had redeemed their pledges.