The Tortuous Destiny Of The Black Stars; John Mahama Is To Blame

It is my prayer that our national team ends the drought of the African Cup of Nations trophy having eluded us for over thirty years now, but a closer look at events post-Equitorial Guinea forcefully gives the indication that we may not live to see the Black Stars annexing the ultimate in future AFCON competitions.

One would be wasting his time fasting and praying for the national team to win the cup that has been our cherished dream. Inasmuch as we all find it necessary to motivate the players to give out their best, we must frown on the excesses.

I believe whatever was paid to the players during the competition was more than enough for players who

didn't even need to be paid to represent the country at any tournament. What was paid to them was a microcosm of the fat wages these players are paid at their respective clubs abroad. I am struggling to come to terms

with the manner in which we are overpampering these players.

State-owned GNPC doled out $25,000 to each player after they had been given $90,000 each for the six matches they featured in. That amount should have sufficed for their efforts, but for reasons only known to the Chief Executive Officer of GNPC, the entity chose to reward the players further.

While Ghanaians are still in a quandary as to why these crop of Black Stars players should be given this preferential treatment, a company pops out from nowhere with the announcement that it found the performance

of the team at the tournament to be extraordinarily fantastic, and such a performance deserves a reward far mightier than the "peanuts" the state has given to them through the ministry of sports and GNPC.

This Father Christmas called Tanink Limited, is willing and prepared to give each player and some management members a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee, costing over $70,000. Whilst I find this gesture superfluous, a

few issues don't add up.
1. This Tanink company isn't a sponsor of the Black Stars, why are they spending this huge sums of money on the players? What do they stand to gain by this unsolicited act of magnanimity?

2. Why are they so defensive when Ghanaians are asking about their locus in this whole bizarre arrangement?

3. Is it true that Tanink is just the veil to blindfold the general public from knowing the identities of those truly giving out these vehicles?

Mahama Ayariga, despite his special gift in the world of comedy, is also a mass of contradictions! His evolving explanations to whether government has a hand in this or not leaves so much to be desired. He is struggling to

categorically state the beneficiaries of this act of "extreme magnanimity". His claim of government not in the known of Tanink's decision to donate 30 Jeeps frowns in the face of logic.

How could government not have been alerted when a privately owned enterprise had expressed its desire to give out these luxurious vehicles? If government indeed was oblivious of this fact beforehand, then it means that no private

organization is doing this, but the Mahama administration itself. Ayariga should know that they cannot throw heavy dust into our eyes this time round.

In all these, the Mahama administration is sending a clearer signal to Ghanaians that they do not wish the team to come home with laurels in future competitions. How do we expect the players to kill themselves in

matches when they know that we are hugely satisfied with any other trophy apart from gold? How can we reward mediocrity and expect that greater outcomes will result out of future endeavours? With this over-glorification of not-so-good a performance, the future looks bleak apropos our dreams to win gold at AFCON tournaments!