Prez Mahama moves to persuade aggrieved Black Stars' players to make a return

File: President Mahama joins the Black Stars at training camp.

President John Dramani Mahama on Saturday announced that he had initiated moves with the Ghana Football Association to bring on board all aggrieved Black Stars players to fortify the team for subsequent competitions.

He said the current situation where some players were disgruntled and subsequently suspended their services to the national team could impact negatively if not stemmed.

President Mahama announced this when Michael Essien, a Ghanaian soccer star, plying his trade in the United Kingdom, led a number of footballers to call on him at the Flagstaff House, Kanda.

The players, who are in the country at the invitation of Michael Essien to participate in the Michael Essien Foundation charity match, called on the President to first introduce themselves and to invite him to watch the match at the Accra Sports Stadium.

President Mahama commended Essien for initiating the Foundation to cater for the underprivileged in society, adding that such a move was complementary to the activities of government, whose responsibility it is to take care of every citizen.

He said: “Many Ghanaian organisations are now having Corporate Social Responsibility, where they provide certain amenities to the communities in which they operate, and I believe that Essien is doing just that for his community, which we must all commend.”

President Mahama attributed some current difficulties in the national teams to interferences in the work of the technical teams, adding “In Ghana, we have 25 million coaches all giving their versions and I believe that is why we are having some challenges.”

He promised that government would give all the necessary assistance for the game to flourish in the continent and beyond.

Mr Mike Gizo, Chairman of the Michael Essien Foundation, commended President Mahama for the support he had over the time given to the Foundation.

Some of the players at the Flagstaff House included: Michael Ballack of Germany, John Mensah, Stephen Baidoo, Augustine Arhinful, Samuel Osei Kuffuor, Thomas Duah, Razak Pimpong among other Ghanaian players.