Opanin Kwasi:
Your analysis below is both apt and interesting for several historic reasons.
In early July 2014, the world's junior sporting championships (IAAF)-- often called Junior Olympics --were hosted at University of Oregon. Athletes came from almost all nations, including Ghana, as the red, yellow and green Ghana flag, spotting the ubiquitous black star, was flying high among flags of other nations and organizations. With my spouse being a Vice-President of University of Oregon, we were invited to the IAAF's opening dinner gala event, where we were fortuitously greeted by International Olympic Committee's female Vice-Chairperson Nawal from Morocco.
The Moroccan official, who happened to be the first female Arab-African athlete ever to win a gold medal at an Olympic Game, was full of praise for Ghana, which endorsed her candidacy for her current position on the IOC. She, indeed, made us aware that she would be presenting some of the winning medals, and that we should come to the events on some days, in my case to see and cheer on Ghanaian athletes! We did go but, sadly, no Ghanaian athlete won a single medal. In the case of Africa, the winners were from Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and other corners of Africa.
So, Opnin Kwasi, maybe you are correct that our country is, now, "an also ran nation." Is that not what you mean?
Cheers,
A.B. Assensoh, Oregon, USA.
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2014 6:32 PM
To: GLU; usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Ghana as an also ran nation
Why has Ghana become an also ran nation?
We are a fully certified also-ran nation; if you doubt it reflect on the Commonwealth Games. The expression "also ran" is often applied to politicians who merely make up the numbers at elections and likely to be no more than a footnote in history. But the term comes from horse racing where it was applied to stragglers coming in late during races. Therefore it is a sporting, or even athletic term and so it applies to Ghana at the Commonwealth Games where our performance described an acute backward arc. In short, we are a nation going backwards.
What worries me is not our under-performance, although that should cause us shame and dismay, but worse is why we get even basic elementary stuff wrong. Let me give you two examples from Saturday’s Daily Graphic: one story says that an unnamed member of our table tennis squad says the team would have performed better if their equipment HAD NOT ARRIVED LATE. How on earth do you send table tennis kit late
The second one is about cycling and is even more farcical. The headline says GHANA USES UNFAMILIAR BIKES. According to the story, instead of buying racing bikes from a dealer known for selling "high performance bikes" the Ghana team bought from a shop described by a Scottish journalist as a "small shop and don't (sic) sell high performance bicycles". The journalist goes on to say that he was surprised when he saw the Ghanaians buying what clearly were inferior bikes.
Why are our people doing this to this nation? I mean, how do you get equipment late to Glasgow when planes fly between Ghana and the UK several times a day. Why did the team buy inferior bikes? There is only one answer. No one is ever held to account for anything. This is why. Only in Ghana would such behaviour go unsanctioned.
Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng
Consultant in Communication, Culture and Media
President, Ghana Association of Writers
Member, National Media Commission
PAWA HOUSE
Roman Ridge, Accra
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