Opinions of Tuesday, 19 July 2016

Columnist: Agbenu, Charles

Why Nii Lante Vandepuiye's ugly lamentations won't get him anywhere

Nii Lante VandepuiyeNii Lante Vandepuiye

The Minister of Sports, Hon Nii Lante Vandepuiye, a known bully and vindictive mind seems to be having things too hot at the Sports ministry. He is at loggerheads with GFA; the relationship between him and GFA Officials are just unfavorable. He is facing many problems.

There are no sponsors on the on-going soccer league. Despite his exuberance, the lesser sports are not growing. Now, it's being revealed that there is no money to support Ghana's participation in next month's Rio Olympic Games.

I warned Nii Lante when he assumed work as Minister of Sports to be cautious since he had a mindset to show some officials, especially Kwesi Nyantakyi, the President of GFA and some members of the FA, whom the former took to be ''too known''.

That mindset is driving him into a stinking deep ditch which he has dug himself. Nii Lante sees himself as an unstoppable blow-man; Roy Rogers of Football, all out to smash rascals in the sports administration.

The preliminaries of 2018 World Cup are in the offing and close watchers have observed that the frosty and antagonistic Ministry of Sports /GFA relationship can negatively affect Ghana's qualification.

Nii Lante thinks because Ghana has had three continuous participation in the Mundial, Ghana's fourth involvement in 2018 is a birth right; some sort of forgone conclusion.

I think it could be a grave mistake. The three participation were achieved through harmony, proper planning and trust. Bugabuga preparations couched in suspicion which Nii Lante is instituting cannot do the trick. Harmony in preparations are being disturbed by the ugly hostility.

Nii Lante was on TV 3 "Hot Issues'' last weekend and he was pathetic with some horrible lamentations which depicted desperation and hopelessness... "If something happens, I should not be blamed. It is because people don't want the right things to be done... GFA is lucky that people don't wonder too much about the hidden rotten things in GFA and other sports ..."

Now, I think Nii Lante is a high flyer in education. I will do some juxtapositional gymnastics in his own comments and write thus: "If something happens, NPP and Akufo Ado should not be blamed. It is because people don't want the right things to be done... Mahama/NDC are lucky that people don't wonder too much about the hidden rotten things in their administration..."

In other words, I remind Nii Lante that these same Ghanaians who don't want the right things to be done in GFA are the same who have propped Mahama incompetence and mediocrity in power all these years.

The same Ghanaians don't wonder why Mills/Mahama have controlled more than $40b of public funds in 8 years with such woeful end products of economic indicators, insignificant growth, high interest rates, unfavorable foreign exchange, zero agricultural growth, unimaginable debt/GDP ratio e.t.c and they rather still allow Mahama to stand to want to win again.

The same Ghanaians have allowed Mills/Mahama to get away with open Presidential car bribes, proven gross dissipation of public funds, uneconomic investment ventures, inflated corruption ridden low quality projects, lies, mediocrity, radio jamming, tribalism, acute unemployment etc.

The world is full of irony indeed. Just tell Nii Lante Vandepuiye to take it easy and stop his ugly lamentations.

Charles Agbenu