Seen by many as one of Kwesi Nyantakyi's most powerful media advisors, Yaw Ampofo-Ankrah takes the unusual step of openly questioning and warning the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) on the most sensitive issues confronting his recently sworn-in executive committee and the wider Ghana football family.
If you want to conquer the world and be the best at your trade, do not surround yourself with incompetent people or praise singers, because with time it will show. Even if YOU are competent, it will still show.
Kwesi Nyantakyi is a very competent individual. To such an extent that I openly campaigned for him on the road to Sudan where he deservedly won a seat on the executive committee of CAF hands down.
One of the toughest things to do is to scrutinize or scold your friend in public. It is not advisable. Better fight in a room and have blood on the walls but to openly rebuke a companion is the unspoken law of friends right?
But if you must do it, do it without mincing words. Because if you get it wrong, you can destroy a relationship that has been built over a long time with an un-measurable investment of trials, tribulations, triumphs, and trust.
Yet, it is a necessary evil that parents, especially mothers employ to bring home their wayward and stubborn wards. It is often the last resort to send a strong signal or warning that things must change radically.
Trust, loyalty, competence, and security. When you are a leader and you build your team around people who have these qualities, your success is more or less guaranteed.
In fact you can go to sleep, take a holiday, and chill out knowing that your back is covered by men who will not betray you or plot a coup in your absence. I have always said that Ghana football can be the best example of how it should be done in Africa but within the corridors of football power lurks its most hideous and monstrous enemies.
Julius Caesar commonly gave pardons to his enemies, just like Jesus told his followers to ''love thy enemy'' Caesar's pardoning of his enemies was essentially a self-serving political ploy to gain the support of his detractors and thus increase his power.
However, Caesar never told anyone to love their enemies or indeed claim to love them himself. On the verge of being proclaimed King, Caesar was betrayed and brutally murdered by those he had saved.
His own friend in war and politics, Marcus Brutus sanctioned the assassination and participated in it. Even Caesar's trusted general, Decimus Brutus was an essential part of the conspiracy to kill the great but tragic leader. In fact, the whole senate (Parliament or House of Lords) fled the scene.
The story of former GFA vice President Fred Pappoe is an interesting case of seeing a bright bolt of fire from a distance but not knowing whether to run, hide or face it head-on. He may have underestimated the opposition, been indecisive, or perhaps he was simply betrayed by those he thought had him covered.
Pappoe's seat will now be filled by Jordan Anagblah. A man who claims he is a reluctant leader and was pressured to contest against his friend.
How come? Well, I for one do not believe that the recent elections for executives to the football controlling body in Ghana were flawed or rigged.
They may have been slightly manipulated at the campaign level by unorthodox campaign practices but according to my sources embedded within and outside the congress, the voting itself was largely fair and transparent. I have no issues with that.
I wish not to take you back but rather forward as the new men with old faces on Nyantakyi's team seek to raise the bar and silence their critics who are ready to strike from afar and at close quarters.
No matter how many times you get it right, your judgment and competence will be questioned when you get it wrong at the most crucial point. That is the nature of the game. Ask Sir Alex Ferguson after his team was taken to the cleaners by Barcelona in the Champions League final a few months ago.
Ask Tiger Woods who seems to have lost form, confidence, and self-belief following his marital indiscretions which for me had nothing to do with golf.
The GFA men cannot fail for the sake of Ghana football and their own sakes. That is why i always support the positive efforts of our sports administrators via as many mediums as possible but at the same time, I do not mince words to hold them to account when they start playing the concert tune.
Once again I stress that these men must not fail. There is too much at stake and Nyantakyi must be acutely aware that if he slips, his recent past successes will count for nothing. Behind the arresting smile and seemingly happy-go-lucky personae, is a highly intelligent character who is intensely focused and passionately ambitious.
Yet Nyantakyi must now take some smart and hard decisions if he is to rally our troops and march onto winning the Nations Cup next year in Equatorial Guinea, qualifying for the 2014 Fifa World Cup, revamping Women's football, and critically adding extra value to the domestic premier league.
Did I leave out the grassroots game and the growing significance of beach soccer worldwide? The man knows what he must do but he is also aware that he must carefully choose the right men to execute his vision or he will be doomed to failure.
The urge to mention names is great but I will resist for now because Nyantakyi more than anyone knows the strengths and weaknesses of his team.
For starters, we need to settle on a captain that leads by example and one that will have the full support of his teammates and the nation.
I love John Mensah's courage and he is a good guy but let me stick my head out now and declare that the captain to take Ghana to Brazil must also lead the team to the tournament. It has nothing to do with age otherwise Spain's Iker Casillas and other players of his golden generation would never have been given the captain's armband.
Communication and media are one of the weakest links within the GFA at present. It is not all about talking and making noise on the radio or television.
That was TEN years ago. It is business now and we need serious people we can respect and trust to deliver to the level where the Black Stars have risen in the last few years. The solutions and answers are not a million miles away but right here in Ghana.
The problem is over the reliance on half-baked, unprofessional, and often crude journalism. Would it be too ambitious to take a cue from the Germans, Italians, French and English FAs?
When we travel and our colleagues are on point, accurate and robust in their professionalism we are all happy.
My question is why do we have people who are not qualified in charge of the image, branding, and communications apparatus of Ghana football?
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