Owusu-Bempa is a disgrace to Sports Journalism

By Mohammed Amin Lamptey

The three fundamental pillars of our noble profession are to first of all educate your readers, viewers and listeners. The second is to inform the same audiences accurately with the latest news and the third is to entertain them as well.

These three principles are the weapons of every serious journalist who want to practice a decent profession which is key to the development of every nation be it sports, economic, politics, enterterment and what have you.

Mr. Owusu-Bempa should be ashamed of himself for this unusual behaviour he put up by attacking the president of Ghana for aiding the Ghana Football Association in resolving the problem between the Ayew brothers and the management of the Black Stars.

In the process to express an opinion on an issue that is known to Ghanaians, my good friend ended up exposing himself to the ridicule of the very audience he is supposed to educate, inform and entertain. You have really hit below the belt with your attack at the President for being a facilitator to an issue that is very important to the development of the Black Stars and the country Ghana.

I know you to be one of the most experienced and intelligent sports journalist in this country at the moment and expected you to avoid any unprofessional attitude which would expose your ignorance, personality, integrity and ill-will as it were against any individual or group of people. Did I hear you liken President John Mahama’s decision to intervene in the Ayews’ impasse with the FA liken to “negotiating with terrorists”? I do not think you were in your sound mind before you granted this interview or you intentionally voiced out those flammable statements just to satisfy your age long hatred against the Ayews. Clearly, you were one of those who do not want to see the Ayews’ return to the Black Stars.

Mr. Bempa, did you really evaluate your thoughts before you transmitted it to the public or you just did it to impress a group of people in this country or was it a slip of tongue? Your attitude towards the coming back of the Ayews to Black Stars looks opaque and unrealistic because the wish of every Ghanaian is to see the Black Stars qualify to the World Cup in Brazil come 2014, and that cannot be achieved without the right calibre of players and the right management team.

I expected you to have helped us by going into the genesis of the misunderstanding and as a seasoned journalist avoid taking sides by conducting a holistic analysis of the issue regarding previous scenarios with respect to players who also decided to quit the Black Stars in a similar fashion but returned back after negotiations by interested parties.

The Ayews are not the first and would not be the last Black Stars players to quit the Black Stars and make a return after negotiations. Irrespective of who initiates the negotiation process, the main aim is to resolve all misunderstanding within the Black Stars team. Andre and Jordan called temporal time on their international careers in February 2013 for varied reasons. While Andre claimed his relationship with some management members of the Black Stars had deteriorated, his younger brother wanted to be guaranteed regular playing time with the national team.

Andre’s claim was understanstood by the head coach and the FA President so much so that they encouraged him to have all the time and rethink his decision with the hope that he would announce his return very soon. Jordan’s idea of wanting to be guaranteed a regular playing time with the National Team, it’s the dream of every professional footballer to gain a regular playing time with his National Team. I thought Bempa would encourage or commend Jordan for that vision and determination. If I may ask, what is the use of a player who plays regularly in his club, but joins the Black Stars only to be benched and excluded from the first eighteen players? Get me right, am not saying he should be offered an automatic position. Jordan knows this. Some players would be glad to just be with the team even if they do not play and others would be ambitious to be part of the first eleven or first eighteen. A player with such mentality should be commended instead of what Mr.Bempa has done.

The Ghana Football Association never said they have failed in the process to get the Ayews back to the Black Stars as Owusu-Bempa wants us to believe. The FA were very clear after their meetings with not only the Ayews but Essien and Kevin-Prince Boateng that they (players) have all expressed misgivings regarding management-player relationship which is vital in any football team. The Ayews are Ghanaians and there is nothing wrong with the President meeting them to resolve an issue concerning Ghana.

The President made a point when Michael Essien visited him before his charity march which attracted international renowned players at the Flagstaff House that he (the President) would be of assistance if the need arises to the GFA in talking to some of the players to rescind their decision of retiring from the Black Stars. He pontificated that Ghana needs them at this crucial moment when our qualification to the FIFA World Cup hangs on quality players with vast experience.

Indeed your behavior has open certain speculative windows which would not only bring about disunity in the country and the Black Stars camp, but a potential media war between lovers of the Ayews as against the detractors of the Ayews since the playing days of their father, the legendary Abedi Ayew Pele. Another angle which is deadly and devilish is the use of “terrorist”.

Amazing! So because they are Muslims and in today’s world, the western world succeeded in twisting the minds of the likes of Owusu-Bempa to believe that Muslims are terrorists. That assumption is untrue and it is a cheap propaganda by the west to denigrate Islam and Muslims Mr. Bempa.

If you care to know Mr. Bempa, kindly get down and investigate into the relationship between Abedi Pele and President Mahama way back during Pele’s schools days at the Tamale Secondary School and playing days at Real Tamale United. You need to know the deep seated relationship between the Mahama family and the Ayew family before you spew out such a divisive statement which would not only give potency to the rumour going rounds that you were one of the media frontliners who assisted in creating confusion among Black Stars players during Abedi Pele’s era as the captain of the national team. What at all motivated you to focus your attention on a single activity by the number one personality of the land to talk to our national assets to rescind an earlier decision? Why are you not interested in Michael Essien and Kevin-Prince Boateng because they also announced their return to the Black Stars?

Let me assure you that, the Ayew brothers and other players who left the Black Stars have every right to come back irrespective of how they get back because they are Ghanaians and to err is human but to forgive is divine.

Michael Essien was furious because it was revealed as part of his decision to quit the Black Stars was because the GFA was lethargic during his long layoff as a result of an injury. At that material moment who visited him in London?

Was it not the former President Kufuor? What are you talking about Mr. Owusu-Bempa?

Ghana is just blessed that all our past and current Presidents are football enthusiasts and would go to the limit to help provide the needed impetus for the Black Stars to jell, because football is a gift to Ghana for our unity, peace, love and harmony as a country with a common purpose of development. We have polarize our political landscape in this country and the only respite we have to regroup irrespective of political biases to celebrate our country when the Black Stars or any of the national teams play matches and win. So in effect, it will be irresponsible on the part of any President not only President John Dramani Mahama to sit down aloof and watch things to deteriorate in our football all in the name of football should be run by The FA and resolve all their problems even when the intervention of the President is very much needed. This is a backward thinking which will not help the progress of the game and the image of the country in the eyes of the rest of the world. I know players who have wine and dine with presidents all in trying to motivate them to give off their best for their nations.

I wish my good friend and colleague Mr.Owusu-Bempa is not attacking the President in the manner he has done to impress any political godfather because what he has done is purely the style of our colleagues’journalists’ who are in political reporting or the paid- political party communicators who can say anything to impress their sponsors. If that is your intention, then please drop it, because sports is different from politics.

You may have your political party alright but it is unfair to use such a platform and issue in question to unjustifiable attacked the president for seizing the opportunity to resolve an issue that is dear to the heart of all Ghanaians. The earlier you come out to apologize to the entire Ghanaians the better for your hard won reputation which has attracted lots of young up and coming who wish to be like you. This is not the Owusu-Bempa I know! A word to the wise is enough.