I think what Ghana has lacked is the ability to maintain their shape and discipline when the stakes are really high.

In 1992 Ghana was favourite to clinch the trophy and the BlackStars who had not clicked for a decade were in great form. The BlackStars lived up to their tournament bidding as one of the favourites to win it. They had a certain Abedi Pele, the playmaker and the reigning African footballer of the year and Tony Yeboah , a renowned goal scorer determined to shine on the African Stage in their line up. Ghana was a match away from clinching the trophy in a tense match against the other tournament favourite Nigeria with a star-studded team of Rashidi Yekini, Sampson Siasia, Stephen Keshi, Augustine Eguavon, Finidi George, Victor Ikpeba etc.

Abedi was no doubt man of the match that day, having tormented the Nigerian defence the whole of the match and having equalised Nigeria’s lead in the stroke of halftime to dent the confidence of the Nigerians. Ghana then went on to score in the second half with a nicely worked goal finished by Prince Polley. The clock was ticking and the BlackStars were in control of the match only for Abedi Pele who had already received a yellow card for dangerous play to see red mist – a moment of madness which saw him snub the referee resulted in another yellow card! The BlackStars’ talisman and the player of the tournament, was not going to make the final!

The rest is history and we all know what happened in the finals. Everyone wonders whether the result would have been different had Ghana had their best player on the pitch just like the Ivorian’s had their best player Alain Gouamene in goal.

Fast forward to 2006 World Cup and our midfield general Micheal Essien was shown a double yellow card in a match with the USA in which Ghana won, but this meant Ghana had to face Brazil without our midfield engine. Brazil went on to tear Ghana’s midfield to pieces and blow Ghana away.

Then in 2008, Ghana hosted the African Cup under a “Host and Win” motto. A resurgent Ghanaian team who were coming to the tournament on the back of a very good showing at the World cup were hoping to win their first tournament in 26 years. They had had the misfortune of losing their talismanic captain in Stephen Appiah through long term injury but with Michael Essien at the helm of the BlackStars, Ghana was hoping to make a great impact on the tournament and win at home. Things had gone according to plan and Ghana had reached the quarter finals after beating the likes of Morocco and an in-form Guinea team. Once again, it was Nigeria in the quarter finals and as expected, it was a tense match especially when Nigeria had taken the lead through a penalty. Ghana equalised through Micheal Essien on the stroke of half time and things were looking good for Ghana. In the second half, Ghana dominated the game and it was clear there was only going to only one winner that day but a moment of madness from our stand-in captain John Mensah through an unnecessary tackle on a Nigerian player resulted in a straight red card. What was heart-breaking was that the ball was going out of play and the Ghanaian defence was not in any way threatened; Clearly this was unnecessary and an archetypical Ghanaian loss of concentration. This was a player in his prime, our defensive stalwart, the Black Star’s “rock of Gibraltar”! Ghana nevertheless were inspired after the incident and got a goal to seal the game though “Ga Mantse” Agogo. But exactly like 1992, Ghana was to get their comeuppance in the following match with Cameroon. This was a semi-final Ghana had to win to play Africa’s most in-form team and the defending champions Egypt. With our defensive rock sat out for the match, the BlackStars had little choice but to soak up the pressure and hope to catch the Cameroonians on the counter attack knowing their Achilles heel in the ageing Rigobert Song. The match had been fairly balanced until Cameroon exposed Ghana’s “Mensah-less” defence and scored a goal that was to take Ghana out of the competition. This behaviour didn’t end there, and at the 2010 World Cup itself Ghana had beaten the USA again in one of the most fiercely contested matches of the tournament in the last 16, only to have in my view the best player on the pitch that day (the one who actually fed Asamoah Gyan with the famous through ball to seal the win) Dede Ayew be taken out of the next game through the accumulation of yellow cards. Another meaningless Yellow Card in our long history of unnecessary Card accumulation.

Ghana met Uruguay in the quarter final without Dede Ayew. This is not to say that the result might have been different but consider this, this was a player so inspired he had been voted man of the match in two previous matches before the match with the USA. Who knows? This is for the reader to speculate what might have happened that day had Dede been on the pitch.

So as the BlackStars prepare to win this 2012 tournament, I personally wouldn’t be worrying about their motivation to win given the price at stake, neither would I be worried about complacency given the examples we’ve witnessed during the qualifiers itself, were Nigeria, Egypt and Cameron were all put to the sword, but I would be worried about the BlackStars’ composure and discipline when the stakes are really high – the crucial matches.

To bring home the trophy, the BlackStars must avoid accumulating unnecessary Cards that have always blighted their chances. Period!

Frederich Maafo, UK

Sports Features of Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Source: Maafo, Frederich

The Globe has established growing use of illegal cellular phones in Ghana’s jail houses, especially at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison. There is a long lasting ban on the use of mobile phones behind bars. Our investigations established that ever smaller handsets allow phones to be smuggled in by prisoners, visitors or corrupt staff.

As at January 9, 2012, the total number of inmates in the nation’s jail houses stood at 13,588. At the Nsawam Prison official figures put the population of inmates at January 3,512. But, it is unknown the unknown the number of inmates at Nsawam who have access to the smuggled mobile phones. “Indeed, the most precious commodity inside the Nsawam prison today is the mobile phone”, said a worried junior officer with the Ghana Prisons Service, who wished not to be named. There are fears illegal phones could fuel prison drug trading, bullying and gang problems.

Behind bars, phones can cost 300 Ghana cedis, the phones are usually paid for by relations and friends of phone-seeking inmates. Smuggled into the prisons by relations of inmates and in many cases prison officers, the phones are used to organise narcotic drug deals, intimidate victims, and plan armed robbery attacks from prison with criminal gangs outside the prison walls. “The use of mobile phones in our facilities has become a serious business raking in money for both inmates and prison officers,” the officer said.

“It is an issue that has been with us for some time now,” the young Prison Officer told the Globe newspaper, adding: “Top management of the Prison Service is aware, but has virtually refused to deal with the problem.” “Visitors to the facilities and some corrupt senior officers are the ones fuelling the illegal practice,” said the officer.

The revelations come at the time some European countries and some states in the United States have stepped up crack-down on illegal mobile phone use in their jail houses, after a series of bloody prison violence blamed on phones smuggled into prison cells.

Accra, Jan 11, GNA – Vice President John Dramani Mahama has called on Africans to establish domestic organisations that would enable them to monitor and evaluate their performance in various sectors, instead of their over-dependence on foreign and donor support.

He said their perennial engagement of such foreign organisations was not helpful to the continent as most of them were not accustomed to the African culture and values and at the end distort their historical origins.

Vice President Mahama made this call on Wednesday during the sixth African Evaluation Association conference under the theme: “Rights and Responsibility in Development Evaluation in Accra”.

The African Evaluation Association was founded in 1999 in response to a growing demand for information sharing, advocacy and advanced capacity building in evaluation in Africa.

The Association, which is an umbrella organisation of national monitoring and evaluation associations and networks in Africa was organised in Ghana by the National Development Planning Commission and the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana in collaboration with the secretariat.

Vice President Mahama appealed to member countries to focus their evaluations on the levels of poverty in the continent and device ways of mitigating such levels to make the region attractive to nationals of other continents.

He appealed to African groups and societies to mobilise learn and engage themselves in re-positioning the continent in the areas of good governance, democracy and the rule of law in the coming years.

Mrs. Florence Etta president of Africa Evaluation Association, said development was about creating an enabling environment which would provide Africans to harness their full potential to exercise their rights.

She noted that the enjoyment of human rights could pave a way for the development and transformation of countries to better positions in all sectors of development.

Mr. Paul Victor Obeng, Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, who chaired the programme, reiterated the relevance of empowering women in Africa as a collective responsibility of all Africans.

GNA

Source: Ghanaweb

Video: The Political and Economic Outlook in Ghana from CSIS on Vimeo.

Currently one of the hottest acts in the United States and beyond, T-Pain’s fourth studio album rEVOLVEr, launched this month to critical acclaim, is receiving heavy endorsements across the industry. The Grammy Award winning artist will share the stage of the Dome with some of Ghana’s finest acts including VIP, Kwaw Kese, and Buk Bak. Also joining the list of performers for the night are the “Sorkodie” boys Keche and sensational young Hiplife act Yaw Siki among a host of other artistes.

Tickets are now on sale at JOY FM, KOALA, Silverbird Lifestyle Store, Airport Shell and Achimota Shell. Tickets can also be preordered online at ticketdoug.com and ticketghana.com.

Source: http://www.ameyawdebrah.com/

She explained that the concert was strictly for females and that no guys, boyfriends or men would be allowed into the hall on the day, unless the person disguised himself as a female to outwit security at the entrance.

Not even her manager, Kiki Banson, would be allowed into the hall and only God knows what would happen between Becca and the all-female audience. “It is an all girls night out on a large scale and this is the first of its kind in this country. It would be a heart to heart, soul to soul interactive performance between Becca and her audience. There are some things that are best communicated among women that a man would not get the full meaning and feeling,” Becca’s manager told News-One.

There are however reports that broadcast journalist and event organizer, Kofi Otchere Darko (KOD), is organizing a number of male celebrities to storm the concert, dressed as women, just to see if they would be subjected to a body search.

KOD is said to be sending BB Messages to his colleague male celebrities, lobbing their support for his agenda.

The exercise which began on Saturday, December 10 has so far rendered about 2,000 residents including a five-day-old born twins homeless.

The Ga Municipal Assembly has planted a military/police platoon to deal with whoever will attempt to resist the exercise.

Speaking angrily to Citi News at his palace, Nii Ayitey Noyaatse I, the Joma chief accused the city authorities of undermining his authority. According to him, his palace was not informed ahead of the demolishing exercise.

Nii Noyaatse I decried the manner in which the structures including the community church and the Joma Presby Primary School block were demolished.

“Government is telling us not to go to church and that our children should not go to school because our church and the only school building we have here have been demolished,” he complained.

Madam Jacqueline, a teacher of the demolished Joma Presby Primary School told Citi News the children were preparing to write their examinations when the exercise was executed.

She stressed that the government had denied the children their right to education.

The secretary to the Joma community, Joseph Alobuia, took a swipe at government and demanded answers from the city authorities for carrying out the exercise without notifying them.

The victims vowed never to participate in the upcoming 2012 general elections because they felt treated like aliens on their homeland.

They wondered how government could subject its own citizens to such inhumane practice whereas refugee camps have been established to provide shelter for the Ivorian and Liberian refugee residents in Ghana

Source: myjoyonline

General News of Friday, 9 December 2011

Source: GNA

President Obama in a recent comment threatened to cut US foreign aid to countries including Ghana that will disrespect the rights of homosexuals.

President Obama’s comments come after UK Prime Minister David Cameron recently issued similar threats to cut aid to anti-gay nations.

But the vociferous opposition legislator in a heartless manner condemned his threats and said President Obama can go to hell and called on well meaning Ghanaians to ignore him.

“I was shocked when I heard it from such a man I hold in [high] esteem,” the firebrand said. “I have lost respect for him on this issue because what he is saying here is that if men and men and women and women are not allowed to sleep he will not give us foreign aid, then that is [funny]. ”

“Is that what God asked us to do by saying that we should go out and multiply; did he say men and men, women and women should sleep and multiply the generation, if he indeed said that he is a nonentity,” he fumed.

Hon. Appiah Ofori asked Ghanaians to ignore the US President and concentrate on issues of national concern that will promote their wellbeing.

General News of Wednesday, 7 December 2011

Source: citifmonline

Sixty-six gallant farmers and fishermen will receive national honours at the 27th National Best Farmers Award ceremony at Agona Nsaba in the Agona West District of the Central Region.

At stake will be the ultimate prize of a three bedroom house for the overall National Best Farmer to be built at a location of the winner’s choice, as well as other prizes for other winners and runners-up in the different categories.

Similar award ceremonies will be held at Regional and District levels across the country.