Sustain cohesion of sports to national development – chief

Baffour Kofi Frimpong Ampem, Abankumhene of Dormaa Traditional Area has called on civil society to sustain the cohesion of national support that gripped the entire nation during the just ended Ghana 2008 football tournament.

He expressed the hope that Ghanaians would continue to uphold the high esteem that the national team acquired for the nation within three weeks of the tournament and urged them not to allow it to wane but to let it transcend the boundaries of football into religion, politics and the socio-economic aspirations of the country.

Nana Frimpong Ampem, who is a staff of Dormaa District Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education, described the nation's unflinching support for the national team, the Black Stars, as unprecedented and capable of moving Ghana's democracy a step further, should it be brought to bear on partisan politics, especially in this election year.

The chief who was speaking with GNA Sports at Ampemkrom, near Dormaa-Ahenkro on the potential benefits that the nation could enjoy from sporting activities urged all to keep faith with the exploits of the Stars to also contribute their quota towards the over-all development of the country.

The Abankumhene recommended that all religious and political platforms be preceded by a strong reminder to the audience of the need to place the nation's interest above ethnic, religious and political ambitions.

“This way, the values binding us together as one nation within the spirit of the 1992 republican constitution of Ghana would be made to flourish naturally and push the country into an enviable pedestal among the comity of nations”, he added.