Daniel Osei Tuffuor
My friends in Germany have been telling me that when you go to some supermarkets in some cities in the country, some shop attendants may refuse to sell to you because you are a man/woman of colour.
In their group discussions as students studying for their Master's degrees, group members in white-dominated universities may ignore you when you raise your hands to make contributions because of your skin colour. Their kids who attend school in German-dominated junior schools are harassed by their colleagues because of their skin colour.
Recently, the acting head of the African Centres for Disease Control (CDC), Prof. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, had to return to Kenya after allegedly being mistreated by immigration officials at Frankfurt airport in Germany where he was due to attend a World Health summit, despite having a visa and an invitation to attend the summit, because of his skin colour. A whole Professor o. But if Germany was the host of the World Cup, BBC will never describe it as the most controversial World Cup in history.
The USA has very funny gun laws. Blacks are mishandled by the Police on daily basis. Others even lose their lives in the process. We have heard many cases of blacks not being treated equally as their white counterparts even in the face of the law. But if USA was the host of this year's world cup, BBC will not describe it as the most controversial World Cup in history.
Qatar won the bid to host this year's world cup some 12 years back. They invested heavily in its preparations. Just look at the beautiful opening ceremony yesterday. But the Western Media is trying so hard to dominate the space with negative news about the country. What they are not doing right and so on. Is this the time for that? Are we not aware that there are issues of injustice in every country? Why is Qatar being treated differently? The sad part is when you find some African journalists also toeing the line of projecting negativity about Qatar.
We know all the issues in Qatar just as we know the issues in Germany, UK, France and the USA but this is not the time for such discussions. We have a beautiful world cup at hand. Let us enjoy it. Allow Qatar government to project their country in peace.
#Qatar2022
