As he walks away from the group of journalists he simply spoke to, Richard Akpokavie sees one other legion approaching.
He slows down in anticipation because the journalists draw nearer.
His smile is unmistakable. Infectious, even. Though the journalists have their very own motive for smiling as they strategy him.
It’s the variety they offer in a present of heat, ostensibly to lull you into not solely speaking to them, however giving them entry to essentially the most intimate, never-told-before components of your life and experiences.
JoySports Victor Atsu Tamakloe, who led the group like a pack of wolves, whispers the phrases ‘‘Efo, edze gbagba! Ewo’e wo doh.’’
He had assumed Akpokavie would perceive his native Ewe language which interprets to ‘‘Effectively performed, man. You probably did all of the work.’’
His non-Ewe-speaking colleagues are puzzled.
Akpokavie’s response; a broader smile and an prolonged hand for a handshake, leaves them much more flummoxed.
Earlier than the group would get better from the micro-second of nothing, the brand new Ghana Olympic Committee president is whisked away right into a nook of the auditorium on the Accra Worldwide Convention Middle.
Down from the excessive of profitable the elections, Akpokavie cuts via what’s left of the maze of feelings to search out his first phrases as president of the GOC.
‘As members of the Olympic Committee, we stand for 3 core values; excellence, respect, and friendship.’
What adopted was the product of an excellent thoughts with institutional data of the area he operated in.
He hit the proper notes.
Nonetheless, the substance of his message was misplaced on his opponent Michael Odum Aggrey, and his supporters.
Past Aggrey, there are nonetheless remnants of the Benson Tenogo Baba/Professor Francis Dodoo/George Lutterodt turf battle.
Divisive previous
Ben Nunoo Mensah, the outgoing GOC president, was the sufferer of a number of malicious assaults that solely sought to undermine his integrity with out essentially exercising any of the constitutional provisions to hunt accountability.
False narratives, misinterpreted audit studies, and so forth., had been a few of the issues Ben Nunoo Mensah needed to take care of.
There aren’t any costs for guessing the place a lot of his accusers got here from.
At present, Akpokavie, by each stretch a protégé of Professor Francis Dodoo. The GOC’s govt board can be dominated by loyalists or sympathizers of Professor Dodoo.
As soon as upon a time, Professor Dodoo then president of Ghana Athletics, was accused in open courtroom of utilizing banned substances throughout his time as an athlete. After all, there was no benefit to it.
However the lawyer in query was himself a protégé of George Lutterodt, Dodoo’s adversary.
It was the peak of the soiled politicking that had characterised the GOC and Ghana Athletics.
For a person who represented the nation at 4 Olympic Video games and was Ghana’s greatest athlete in 1987, it was unhappy to him subjected to such insults and assault on his integrity.
As destiny would have it, that lawyer contested in Saturday’s elections and misplaced.
Once more, there aren’t any costs for the mastermind behind his defeat.
So the GOC stays each bit as divided as ever.
Many have applauded the GOC for the cordial method during which the elections had been held.
A decade in the past, George Lutterodt stormed out of the elections after Prof. Dodoo gained. No customary handshakes. No gesture of sportsmanship.
It didn’t finish there. The subsequent day, he advised Asempa FM that “it was the dirtiest election in Ghana’s Sporting historical past.”
These had been the times when Congress allowed candidates to deal with delegates earlier than the votes had been solid.
You possibly can think about what the firebrand Lutterodt needed to say.
That – and B.T. Baba’s spat with Prof. Dodoo, is the historical past of the lads who’re mentors to right now’s leaders.
Additionally it is why Akpokavie’s first order of enterprise must be to increase an olive department to each member of the opposite facet of the divide.
Mend bridges, run an inclusive authorities, and be higher than what got here earlier than.
Income technology
Ghana’s budgetary allocation for sports activities is GH¢65.9 million. Contemplating the Black Stars’ World Cup Qualifiers will wipe away a piece of it whereas the remaining goes into paying salaries and compensations on the Sports activities Ministry, it goes with out saying that the brand new GOC management has to drag a rabbit out of the hat to fund Ghana’s preparations for the following Olympic Video games.
On Thursday, Evans Yeboah, who’s now the GOC’s treasurer advised JoySports that he would goal particular grants from donor organizations, and different affiliated worldwide organizations.
It was an excellent thought. It’s that type of inventiveness that may establish sensible income sources to fund its operations.
Athlete welfare
In 2024, the Sports activities Ministry and the GOC couldn’t afford the price of hiring a coach for Rose Yeboah – a excessive bounce document holder, to France for the Olympic Video games.
She ready for the Olympic Video games in Cape Coast after which (10 days) in Strasbourg.
In the meantime, her good friend Lamara Distin (Jamaican excessive jumper), was on the Diamond League in Monaco. They had been each merchandise of the NCAA. Distin was then at Texas A&M College, whereas Yeboah was on the College of Illinois.
Two champions from the identical cycle, totally different help methods, and techniques.
In the long run, regardless of clearing a mark of 1.97 in June, Rose Yeboah confirmed up in Paris and could not clear a top of 1.92 on August 1.
Then there was the triple menace struggle on Pleasure FM’s Sport Plan between the GOC, Ghana Athletics, and Deborah Acquah over who was speculated to cowl her medical bills however had failed to take action for 3 years.
Such heart-wrenching tales must be a factor of the previous.
Whereas Ghana’s athletes struggle officers on the radio and are pressured to coach with out their coaches for main tournaments, their counterparts elsewhere on the earth are state-sponsored.
Six days in the past, the Nationwide Sports activities Fee (NSC) in Nigeria disbursed $20,000 as coaching grants to the nation’s elite weightlifters. The quantity was to help their preparations for the 2025 World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China from Might 10.
The principle lesson right here is the standardized rating system given which means by vital funding.
Be it via lobbying the federal government for extra monetary help, or by independently looking for sponsors and donors, Akpokavie must discover a method.
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