OHENE DJAN WOULD NOT BE WISHED AWAY

I am afraid I am unable to respect the Accra Metropolitan Assembly's so-called change of name for this nation's leading sporting arena in Accra. As far as I am concerned, the Ohene Djan Stadium is the name. Period!

I am of the opinion that the so-called name change is politically motivated. It is also tribal. Opinion they say are like noses. Every one has his or her own. I am afraid I am in no rush to change this view.

It is well entrenched in my system. I may be sent to labour camp or any other place the AMA may choose. I am not prepared under any circumstances to change my view on why the national stadium should bear the name Ohene Djan.

It was the agitation from foot soldiers and the Ga lobby within the National Democratic Congress and their surrogates, immediately after Prof. John Evans Atta Mills staggered to the podium and fumbled his lines at the inauguration, which started it all.

All this idea about the AMA exercising its right as the agency in charge of naming national relics, from my point of view, is bunkum. Where was the Chief Executive of the AMA and his councilors when the signpost Flagstaff House was smuggled in, to replace the name Jubilee House, given to the new Government House, by those who conceived the idea of an ultra modern office complex and residence for the President of the Republic of Ghana?

We have reached a point in time, in our political evolution, when parochial political interests should be subsumed in the name of national unity. When the Ohene Djan Stadium was conceived, it went through a whole process. It was not as if ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, who has been vilified beyond any decency, by a small group of the Ga lobby in the NDC, just had a bad dream and decided to name the national stadium after his uncle somewhere in Nkawie.

In 2003, football as an organized sport, chalked 100 years in Ghana. To commemorate the occasion, the late Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, who was then Minister in charge of Sports, formed a number of committees to commemorate the centenary celebrations.

One of the committees -the Heroes Committee was charged with finding ways and means of immortalizing the contributions of great sportsmen and women in the history of Ghana sports. The committee came out with several innovations. There was the Heroes' Gallery opened at the national stadium, where trophies and medals won in the name of Ghana sports were to be displayed.

The Heroes Stand also had pictures of our top class sports men and women. One other recommendation implemented by the Heroes Committee was the naming of leading sporting installations in the country, after leading sportsmen and women. The sports hall in Accra, where table tennis has been played over the years was named after Mr. D.G. Hathramani, the Indian who single-handedly raised most of our top ping pong stars of old.

The tennis court at the stadium bears the name of Frank Ofori, who until now is the highest ranked Ghanaian ever on the ITP tour. The Kumasi Sports Stadium was named after Baba Yara, recognized as the king of right wingers in Africa, who was seriously injured in an accident involving players of Real Republikans, and later died from his injuries.

The Cape Coast Sports Stadium was named after Robert Mensah, the only Ghanaian to be ranked Africa's No1 goalkeeper in 1970, who died tragically in a fracas with a friend at Tema in 1971.

The Winneba Sports College was named after Charles Kumi Gyamfi, the first Ghanaian to play professional football in Europe and who led the Black Stars as a coach to win three of the four African Cup of Nations championships credited to Ghana.

The Kaneshie Sports Complex was named after Azumah Nelson, the greatest boxer ever to emerge out of Africa. The Accra Sports Stadium was named after Ohene Djan, independent Ghana's first Director of Sports.

It was under Ohene Djan that Ghana began to make strides in football, boxing athletics and table tennis especially. It was Ohene Djan who conceived the idea of sending retired sportsmen and women to train as coaches to handle the various national teams and sporting clubs.

After receiving the recommendations, Mr. Baah-Wiredu took it to Cabinet meeting and sought approval. Following the approval, the recommendations were implemented. It was not as if someone sat somewhere and smuggled in the name of Ohene Djan to decorate the entrance to this nation's leading sporting arena.

Why the Ohene Djan Stadium alone should become a subject for agitation, tells much about the thinking behind the agitation and name change. I submit here that the agitation against the name Ohene Djan, was tribally and politically motivated. We have got to a stage in the life of this nation when tribal and political twists should not disturb our forward march.

In any case, why did the so-called councilors of the AMA, who were said to have voted for the name change, in respect of the Ohene Djan Stadium did not consider any other name in respect of our sporting installations. Why is the Sports Hall still Hathramani Hall? Is the AMA not aware that the Kaneshie Complex spots a new name?

As far as I am concerned, the clamour to remove Ohene Djan from the national stadium is tribal. As a nation, we should not allow tribal sentiments to becloud our judgments on national issues. It is significant to note that apart from the name Ohene Djan, which the AMA claimed to have jurisdiction over, no other edifice has been renamed by the AMA in the Accra Metropolitan Area.

There are several streets and edifices bearing names of foreigners without the involvement of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly. When the Black Star Square was changed to Independence Square, for instance, it did not take the approval of the AMA. It was the decision of the military junta under the leadership of Jerry John Rawlings

Every school child in Ghana knows about the circumstances under which the name Flagstaff House was smuggled in, to replace Jubilee House, when we all slept. It did not involve the AMA.

I would like it to be known that so long as I live, I will refer to the national edifice as the Ohene Djan Stadium.  I am not anti establishment. But when people do things for their myopic interests, the rest of society is not obliged to follow.

As a Ghanaian, I am law-abiding. But I am not prepared to obey something that was done so that those who persecuted the leadership of the previous administration would have their way.

At a point in time, some irresponsible people in Accra swore never to allow ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor to operate from any office in Accra.  Is that the kind of politics we want to nurture?

As far as I am concerned, the circumstances leading to the name change at the Ohene Djan Stadium could not be divorced from the mad rush to deny the x-President of the Republic an office space.

I am afraid I am unable to join the mad rush to repudiate the events leading to the naming of the national edifice, Ohene Djan Stadium. For me, whatever the AMA says and threaten, the Stadium at Osu in Accra, will forever be known as the Ohene Djan Stadium.

I dare the AMA to visit whatever calamity they have on me. I cannot and will not refrain from calling the national sporting edifice Ohene Djan Stadium. As a matter of fact, I am serving notice that as soon as it is possible, I will lead a campaign to return the inscription Ohene Djan Stadium to the entrance of the renovated national pride at Osu. Ohene Djan shall be back. SURELY!

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