Ghana's paralympic team
None of the three athletes that represented the country qualified to the medal zone in their respective fields.
Speaking to Class Sports’ Desmond Decker in a telephone interview on Wednesday September 14, Nartey said the team had no support in any form from the country.
“Brazil is OK, the Games are OK. It is just that back home, the homework wasn’t done properly and that has really affected us because when our authorities came, the message that they brought from Ghana really [demoralised] us. For them to come and say the country is saying there is no money and that we have to do everything and come back home, even if there is no money, we need to get the logistics to help us do the Games and that one was also very difficult. My uniform for the competition was even a donation from UK,” he bemoaned.
According to Nartey, his other colleagues also relied on donations but they had to put those challenges behind them and compete for the love of the country. He noted that Ghana did not even pay for their air tickets and training.
“Our air fare was paid by IPC. … Our training tour was paid by ourselves and our families so Ghana has actually not done anything for us,” he said.
“I sometimes regret competing for Ghana because if Ghana cannot look after three athletes, what if we were 10 or 15? …And this is an international game, it’s a world game and the Olympics is the highest an athlete can go on this planet and if we are there to raise the name of Ghana high…and if Ghana should be there and Ghana is not looking after its athletes, then I don’t know what to say. … All the officials that came here from the ministry are here because we did it and qualified. If we didn’t qualify, will they be here? And if Ghana is able to get them a ticket and bring them to Brazil and we are not getting what we need to train, then I don’t really understand it. What are they doing here? They are not here with any medical officer, they are not coaches, what are they doing here? These are things we need to look at but if you say too much somebody might say you are destroying his business or his job…”.
