Amanfo, can someone help me make any sense out of this trend of information from Ghana’s head coach for athletics? The following quotes are excerpts from articles over the past four months with regards to Ghana’s preparations for the Commonwealth Games.

October 13th 2001, on Joy Online website. Article heading: “Ghana begins preparations for Commonwealth Games” “ “The Chief Athletics coach explains that, in order to forestall the situation where foreign-based athletes mislead coaches about their performance, a strict monitoring would be done to ensure that selected athletes meet the qualifying mark at least three times before the games. Even before the final selection, both home based athletes and their overseas counterparts would undertake final trials either in Kumasi or a chosen venue next May, after which selected athletes would undergo a strict and compulsory fitness test before proceeding to Manchester.”

December 7th 2001, Graphic Sports website "According to GAAA sources close to the Graphic Sports the athletes will undergo intensive training for 15 days (January 2002) under the care of four top athletics coaches including the Chief Coach, S. S. Athuahene. The source intimated that there will be a break for a brief period and resume training in March where a final team would be selected to represent the country."

January 23rd 2002, Accra Mail (newspaper) on the web. Volume 3
No 006 January 23, 2002.
“Mr. S.S. Athuahene, Chief Coach of the team told the GNA Sports in Accra on Monday that two others, Margaret Simpson in Mauritius and Aziz Zakari in US have all been penciled to form the nucleus of the team. A source close GAAA hinted the GNA that officials are not keen on sending a very large contingent to the Commonwealth games and has thus settled on Anim, Aziz and Margaret. The coach said he was networking with officials of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and athletic associations in Europe to furnish him with the performances of the athletes.”

When Andrew Owusu wrote the article ”Why athletics in Ghana must be over hauled?” in November, he made mention of the fact that ambiguity and the lack of a genuine selection criteria are two of the most important reasons why athletics keeps failing”. And the above statements represent a classic reflection of this.

What is more demoralising for both local and foreign based athletes than to be told, 2 weeks into a 35 week season that ”We have already selected the team, GOODBYE”? What about the potential athletes in the events that these three fortunate athletes compete in? Should they just give up and stop training? Have these three athletes met the criteria for selection this year? What are the selection criteria? Even if Ghana can only afford to take three bodies, are we sure these will be the three best athletes Ghana has by the time the Games roll around? Have these three athletes even competed this year? What about the pronouncement in the first quotation, from December 7th’s Graphic, above where each athlete would have to ”meet the qualifying mark AT LEAST three times before the games”? Was that just to blow smoke in our eyes? Where is the democracy and accountability that our country is riding on now? How on earth can the GAAA and the Chief athletics Coach, announce that performances of athletes will be monitored via the internet (IAAF and European Federations) and in the same breath announce that the team for the Commonwealth Games has already been selected? Does the GAAA and the head athletics Coach take the Ghanaian public for fools?

This is really a sad day for athletics. My heart weeps for the numerous local and foreign based athletes who have trained so hard this past off season to get ready for the coming year. We all know what it means when people get “penciled” in to form the nucleus of the team. All the numerous Ghanaian athletes, both at home and overseas ever wanted was a fair opportunity to compete for a spot on the national team. But, it appears the coming year is going to be the same as the past two decades, where teams are chosen in the dark, using very quiet criteria. Why do we even need to have a penciled in team? Why not just come public with the real criteria and leave the athletes to compete for places. If we go to the world lists right now to find the best three Ghanaian athletes from last year, only one of the penciled in athletes’ name will show up. Hmmm, does that mean Ghana does not even want to go with the best three athletes she has? Asem beba dabi!!!

But again this lends enormous credibility to what Andrew Owusu has been trying to publicize. From my point of view, the GAAA seems to be operating as a “power” on its own. It seems that it does not have to justify its actions to any high authority. Or simply put, is this a “good old boys” club were only conformers and blind obedience wins you membership (i.e. team spot). Guess what? This costs the country resources and does not afford Ghana the best opportunity to win. In other words, it represents a sponsored waste of our nation’s scarce resources. Poor Ghana! And we wonder why we never excel. Beyond that, it kills the motivation of all the athletes training for a fair opportunity. Worst of all, it makes athletes bitter, when they realize that favoritism is the selection criteria, rather than performance.

Confounding this, citizens of Ghana, in December 2001, Graphic Sports reported that “……..athletes will undergo intensive training for 15 days in January 2002 under the care of four top athletics coaches including the Chief Coach, S. S. Athuahene. The source intimated that there will be break for a brief period and resume training in MARCH WHEN A FINAL TEAM WILL BE SELECTED." The GAAA has always claimed a lack of funds yet they spent public funds - if they followed through on their plan - to organize a camp for athletes when they knew very well that these athletes will not be attending the very games they were supposedly training for. Tell me fellow Ghanaians are we stupid, or is something seriously wrong with this picture? Knowing we have already selected a team (of just a few people), even if they are just “pencilled” in, why waste Ghana’s resources to take some athletes for intensive training for 15 days in preparation. Supposedly, we were supposed to be fooled into thinking that these people selected for the December camp would, after the 15 day camp, take “a break for a brief period and resume training in March where a final team would be selected to represent the country”. Meanwhile, we have already “pencilled” in a team! What happened to the so called qualification marks that Head Coach Athuahene talked about? What happened to “trials either in Kumasi or a chosen venue next May”?

There is nothing wrong with wanting to limit the size of the team. But what is most glaringly wrong here is the fact that a team has been selected without any trials or, worse still, without any obvious qualification criteria! This is so wrong. Not even a soothsayer can predict which athletes will be Ghana’s best four months from now. The dynamic nature of sports, the constant emergence of new stars and the ever present risk of injuries should be seriously taken into account. Even if we assumed there would be no injuries it is NOT TURE that this list, as a group, comprised the three best Ghanaian athletes from last year. So, what is the justification for selecting this group? Aziz, of course, was our top athlete of 2001, no question about that. But Simpson…Anim?

For those interested, the athletes of Ghana have started an internet website where anybody with access to a computer can find out about current results, national rankings, world rankings, biographies, national records, All-Time performance lists, news and communicate with the various athletes. I commend this fantastic effort by these athletes to publicize their sport and it is very gratifying to know that even in the face of so much uncertainty and adversity, and a federation that seems not to care, these athletes are still trying to hold their heads high. The internet address for the site is www.ghanaathletics.com. Please support Ghana athletics by visiting the site yourself.

I hope that all who read this would write to the Minister of Sports and for that matter, the honourable President to inquire about this apparent lack of transparency and the justification for selecting a team two weeks into the athletics season. What is the rush? After all the Commonwealth Games are five and half months away and the dead line for entries is in July 2002. Slow down, Mr. Coach. Your over speed is going to make you have an accident. You are exposing yourself.

Kwadwo Mensah Sportatec News Organization