.... Of Randy Abbey's Arrogance & Thoughtlessness

By Kweku Grant

My Monday coffee will keep you awake throughout the week to


enable you stay politically alert all week. So, come on, let’s drink.





What Ghanaians cannot tolerate is arrogance and pomposity.


That is why it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle


than for either Spio Gabrah or Nana Akufo-Addo to become President of Ghana.





Many discerning Ghanaians, long before Azuma Nelson became


the great boxer that he became, knew that he would make it big in his chosen


profession because though he had the heart of a lion, he also had the humility


of biblical Joseph.





So the whole nation united behind him when he pummeled Australia’s


Brian Roberts to become the Commonwealth featherweight champion. They stuck


behind him when he lost gallantly to the late Salvadore Sanchez and later


whipped the living daylights out of Puerto Rican Wilfredo Gomez on December 8,


1984 to become the World’s Featherweight Champion.





Ghanaians simply love humble people. Thanks to Azuma’s


humility, both the old and young including women who did not understand even


the ABCD of boxing kept wake just to watch him fight. And when he wins, which


is usually the case, the whole nation goes agog.





Marcos Villasana, Azarbache Martinez, Jeff Fenech, Jim


McCdonnel, Pat Cowdel, Lupez Suarez, Sidney Dal Rovere, James Ruelas, Juan


Laporte and many other boxers who lost to Azuma as well as the likes of Pernel


Whitaker who had the better part of him would tell you that being punched by


Azuma is like being punched by fourteen million Ghanaians.





What Azuma had in abaudance, Randy Abbey. I am prepared to

bet my last bottom dollar that it is the arrogance and thoughtlessness of Randy


that so many Ghanaians are supportive of the action the Economic &


Organised Crime Office took last week against the GFA.





Kwasi Nyantakyi, I bet, is not the target of most people. It


is Randy! And, many won’t shed tears for him if his name springs up in any


financial malfeasance that the EOCO may uncover. In fact, people will jubilate.








Over the years, unlike Azuma, Randy has inflicted his nauseating


arrogance on Ghanaians with sarcastic answers to questions posed to him as the


PRO of the FA. And, as you can bet, this is what Ghanaians distaste.





But, Randy’s arrogance is not the only reasons why some are


seeking their pound of flesh. His thoughtlessness is another issue. Since FIFA


does not want governmental interference, and to put it bluntly, political interference,


in the running of local FAs, then it should have also demanded that politicians


should not hold positions in local FAs. Or, better still, it should have asked


people holding positions in FAs not to dabble in politics.





But alas, that is not the case. FIFA has created a situation


where governments cannot interfere in football administration but football


administrators can dabble in politics. So, the NDC, throughout their years in


position, looked on helplessly as Randy, a thoroughbred NPP man, hack at them


in the mornings on the Good Morning Ghana


show he hosts on Metro TV.





Now that the NDC is in power, why must they leave Randy


alone? And, unfortunately, with his arrogance and buoyed on by the likes of


Malik Kweku Baako Jnr, Randy did not see the need to stop playing politics even


with the NDC in government.





During the World Cup in South Africa, Ghanaians were shocked

to learn that Randy deliberately avoided greeting President Mills when he came


to visit the Black Stars in camp. Then again, Ghanaians were told that Randy


says if he comes back from the world cup, he would deal with President Mills


using his Metro TV programme and the


Kokrokoo programme of Peace FM where he is sometimes among


the panelists. He denied saying he would deal with President Mills but indeed


since his return from the World Cup, has he not been attacking at the NDC on


the kokrokoo programme and providing


the platform for his stable mates to attack the NDC and by extension President


Mills on Metro TV?





If Randy was a bit thoughtful, he would have refrained from


dabbling in party politics, especially when the NDC came to power. But,


probably, he was and is counting on FIFA to save him from those he has been punching


day in and day out.





If Randy knows the number of people who are praying that the


investigations of the Economic & Organised Crime Office, EOCO, will find


that he is involved in a financial malfeasance, he would seek the help of a man


of God to intercede for him.





So, it is obvious that Randy is Nyantakyi’s problem. The GFA


Chairman, it must be said, has done his best to stay away from party politics.


He is respected and loved by many Ghanaians, NDC people inclusive, but he is


guilty by association. He is guilty by associating himself with Randy Abbey!





But, the way EOCO went about getting access to the GFA


documents was unnecessary. Yes, it showed the GFA, particularly Randy Abbey,


where power lies but it gives the government a bad name in the eyes of the


undiscerning. Yes, I say undiscerning because the EOCO is a constitutionally


mandated body and like the CHRAJ is invested with certain powers to execute its


work. It is not controlled by government.

But, my good friend Mortey, the Executive Director of the


EOCO ought to know that somethings are lawful but are not helpful. So, blessed


with the powers he has, he could have avoided the melodrama and acted more like


an intelligence agency.





Couldn’t the EOCO have stormed the place, keep outsiders at


bay, the GFA officials indoor and go through their computers and files with


them? All that needed to be copied by the EOCO officials and all the documents


they needed could have been copied. Staffers would then be interrogated after


which the EOCO would leave the premises of the GFA without taking away the


files.





Nevertheless, the raid was not wrong. It is funny to hear


some people, including Randy Abbey, saying that there was no need for the EOCO


to go to court on an ex parte motion. Can you imagine this! It is just like a


convicted person telling a judge what kind of sentence is good for him.





The biggest laugh of the whole saga is the claim by the GFA


that they are shutting their office down till the EOCO completes its


investigations. Obviously, they want Ghana to attract FIFA’s fury. They want


Ghana suspended by FIFA so they would show the government where power lies.


Ultimately, they believe that Ghanaians would become incensed when this happens


so that the people would rise up against the government.





Sorry folks, this


thinking of the GFA and its arrogant members shows some of the members do no


have their thinking caps screwed on properly. Don’t they understand that their


collective arrogance has become so nauseating that many Ghanaians do not care a


hoot if FIFA bans Ghana? What the people want is to skin Randy and co alive if


they are found culpable of any financial malfeasance.





Who would a FIFA ban hurt most? The GFA should not pretend


they have not realized that even now, many die-hard Ghanaian soccer fans have

lost interest in the premier league. The division one league is an eye-sore


while the division two league is pathetic to watch. As for colts football, it


is almost non-existent in the country.





If the premier league matches had come on yesterday, many


Ghanaian soccer fans would have preferred to stay at home to watch the European


matches than go to the stadium to


watch any of the Ghanaian premier league matches.





The GFA has so much lowered the standards of the premiership


that most people would prefer to pay huge monthly subscription money to watch


Europeans leagues on their DSTV than go to any of our stadia to pay far less to


watch Ghanaian league matches.





Our little children know some of the stars in the European


leagues but that cannot be said about their knowledge of the players in the


Ghanaian league. What a pity!





So, if at the time the football clubs are recording low attendance


the GFA and GHALCA choose to boycott the league, who gets hurt? Is it not true


that some of our football clubs pay their players salary from the little they


make from gate proceeds? So, if they refuse to honour league matches, where


would they get money from to pay their players?





Then also, the FA and the clubs would have to return the


sponsorship money to the sponsors since they would not be honouring their part


of the agreement by playing league matches. And, you can bet that some of the


clubs have already squandered their sponsorship money!





So, the GFA and GHALCA officials should stop deceiving


themselves that they can hold Ghanaians to ransom. The only person they will be


hurting if FIFA bans Ghana is themselves. After all, that is where many of them


earn their living.