As the reign of Ackah Anthony as President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) come to an end this year, there are speculations that a dynamic personality is preparing to take over to lead the association.
Investigations conducted proved that Ackah Anthony’s two four year terms would be over in November for elections to be held in December and a handing over ceremony in January 2015 as the last handing over was held at the Alisa Hotel in January 2007, when Ebo Quansah left the SWAG Presidency.
Kwabena Yeboah was Vice President to Ebo Quansah, but decided not to go for the President in 2007 and 2011 due to personal reasons, which earned Anthony eight years as unopposed.
“Mr. Writer” as he is affectionately called by colleagues and friends now feel the time is due to be President, as the association has been plagued with some challenges which he thinks could be handled easily.
Some of these are lack of transparency in the association, irregular meetings, poor accountability, bickering, members not involved in committees and the popular SWAG match not played for the past four years.
Many sports journalists believe Kwabena Yeboah is the man to take SWAG to the next level as the association prepares for the 40th awards ceremony and they would be seeking sponsorship and support from corporate bodies, as well as the Golden Jubilee in 2018.
Kwabena Yeboah, publisher and editor of Africa Sports Newspaper is very experienced, popular locally and on the international scene as well as a team player and motivator.
He is presenter of the well watched Sports Highlights show on GTV every Monday, and made great waves at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil as one of the commentators of the Mundial.
Even before the SWAG secretariat would come out with modalities and date for the elections, some members have declared their intentions for positions.
Sammy Heywood Okine, Producer of “On The Ball” and a regular columnist of Ghanaweb.com is tipped to take over from William Ezah as General Secretary after his hard work, passion and zeal in SWAG activities.
Charles Osei Asibey of Happy FM and Assistant PRO at the Ministry of Youth & Sports, Larry George Botchway are interested in the Vice President’s position, with The Tides’ Helga Goka and Russel Wiafe of ETV eyeing the Treasurer position. Maurice Quansah of Graphic Sports is also tipped for Executive post.
Meanwhile, the most active patron of SWAG, Oheneba Charles who is a former President of the association has urged members to get involved in programmes and functions to make it vibrant for the corporate world to cherish the SWAG brand and contribute to its activities.
He noted that the current economic conditions have made difficult for many companies and associations to survive, so SWAG at 46 years and still running smoothly is a positive sign that new ideas can make things better.