Features
AFCON 2021: Ghana’s shocking exit!
Just before the start of AFCON 2021 in Cameroon, many Ghanaians were hopeful that the Black Stars would live up to expectation and surprise the world by winning the cup for the fifth time even though the players were not the most experienced and the best compared with others we have had over the years.
It came out as a shock to many if not all Ghanaians that the Black Stars had to be booted out after only the group stages, having lost to Morocco, drawn with Gabon and humbled by the new sensation island, Comoros. This year’s competition was the most disgraceful for Ghana, especially when Comoros Island defeated the Black Stars and moved on to the next stage of the competition.
The whole world sees Ghana as a great football nation that has always put up splendid performance to win competitive laurels. Failure to win the AFCON 2021 Cup is not really the issue that worries Ghanaians even though the nation would have been happy if the cup had been won. What is very disturbing to Ghanaians is the fact that the Ghana Football Association appears not to be exercising efficient management of football in this country. Many of its members have neglected to play the role of efficient management of tapping and managing football talents at various levels from first, second and third divisions to the Ghana Premier League level as well as the national team level where talented players could be identified and brought together to constitute the best national team to win competitions on the continent and in the world as a whole.
UNFORTUNATE SITUATION
Unfortunately, this has not been the case and many Ghanaians have become disappointed and even lost interest in the ongoing AFCON 2021. This is a very sad situation, indeed.
The truth of the matter is that the game of football is no longer the monopoly of a few countries. Rather, the whole world, through well endowed and less endowed countries, are seriously learning and doing all they can about football, so as to be able to go higher and higher to win laurels.
Gone were the days when countries like Morocco, Ghana, Egypt and a few others were considered masters of the game. Today, less known countries in the area of football have exploited the area and pulled up surprises in competitive football whether at the continental or global level.
SKILLS BY LESS KNOWN COUNTRIES
This explains why Comoros Islands, Gambia, Equatorial Guinea and others have surprised the world with the skills they are displaying in the ongoing AFCON 2021.
There are many things that are wrong with football organisation in Ghana. First of all, the commitment of the GFA is in great doubt and their coach recruitment policy for the national team has not proved to be the best. Coaches are brought in for the national team as and when a few people in the GFA think that particular people ought to be selected to train the Black Stars.
It is becoming clear that this policy will have to be changed. We need to train some of our own nationals to make sure that their Ghanaian identity and pride is always exhibited during football matches at all levels.
GHANAIAN COACHES
In fact, the previous achievements of the Black Stars and the junior national teams came about from coaches who were Ghanaians and committed to the task. In 1982, when the Black Stars won the Africa Cup of Nations for the fourth time, they did not use any foreigner to win the cup.
What is important, therefore, is for Ghana as a nation to develop football pitches all over the country to create opportunities for the young ones to train in the game of football. The current policy of the Ministry of Sports to build facilities in various districts and regions will soon begin to yield good results for the country, so that policy must be implemented.
Apart from the availability of football pitches for training, Ghana needs to also identify younger people throughout the country for competitive football at the various levels. This should not be limited only to men but the females as well.
NUMEROUS FOOTBALL TALENTS
Many people have argued that from what they see in the rural areas, the country abounds in football talents in all the villages and towns throughout. The Ghana Football Association must, therefore, embrace the task of hunting football talents in all parts of the country and grooming them into efficient working force for our Premier League as well as the national teams.
We should not just be happy with what was done yesterday or depend on the past glory of the nation, but strive to attain better things for the good of our motherland. If things are organised better in this way, the nation will soon make use of football stars from both male and female teams and export them to clubs outside to bring in the needed revenue to the country. When talented football stars are facilitated to join foreign clubs, the money they earn would be brought into the country to assist families and friends and thereby help in the promotion of socioeconomic development. At the same time, it will also help to raise the standard of football in all parts of the country.
Since football is the passion of the nation, we need to begin now to reorganise things in a better way to bring in more fruitful results for the overall good of Ghana and its citizens. This can be done so we must encourage the growth of football in all dimensions, so as to make use of talented individuals in that field to create wealth for the country.
PERSONAL TEAMS
It is good to have personal teams owned by members of the GFA. However, if these football teams are owned and used only to serve personal economic interests, then the issue of selfishness comes in.
This is why we must pay attention to the national good and ensure that whatever is done in the area of football goes to serve our national interest. Let all the football administrators go by this principle and more trophies can be won for the country whether at the Africa continental or FIFA level.
Contact email/whatsApp of author:
pradmat2013@gmail.com(0553318911)
By Dr Kofi Amponsah-Bediako
This week I have a very strong desire to put on my Apostolic Cap and talk about the power available to children of God which we can utilise to generate positive outcomes, in our lives.
There is a phrase in the Bible that if Christians meditate on, can immensely transform their lives. In Matthew 28:6 there is a phrase “… as he said…” according to the King James Version.
Thus phrase forms part of a statement declared by an angel of God to two women who were disciples of Jesus who had gone to his tomb early in the morning on the third day after his death.
According to the Biblical account, the stone covering the entrance of the tomb had been rolled away and an Angel was sitting on it and he made the statement to the effect that the Jesus they are seeking is not there and that he had risen, as he said before his death.
His resurrection affirmed the authenticity and dependability of the word of Jesus and therefore the word of God.
Christianity has to do with faith in the word of God. Pastor Mensa Otabil said if we view Christianity as an inside out view, you would go inside to operate the power that is in you.
As a Christian, the spirit of God and therefore the power of God, dwells in you. Anyone who is aware of this truth, does not go around seeking to have a so called powerful person resolve his or her spiritual issues.
Most Christians who move from prophet to prophet, do not believe that the spirit of God which operates in a Pastor or Prophet, is the same spirit that dwells in him or her.
In fact , that Christian may be more ‘powerful’ than the Prophet or Pastor he is going to for prayers because he is living a holy life, which is pleasing to God, for God is no respecter of persons according to Acts 10:34-35.
God does not give out his spirit in different measures to indwell believers. The spirit of God that dwells in a new convert, is the same spirit that dwells in a Bishop or a Prophet or an Evangelist or an Elder or a Deacon.
All you need to do as a child of God is to believe in the word of God and know that it works and that according to 1 John 4:4 we, Christians, that the Spirit of God dwells in us have overcome the world and Jesus in us, is greater than the Devil who is out in the world, wrecking havoc all around.
If we realise that we have overcome the Devil and everything he controls, then we can believe and act in faith and make declarations and just as Christ declared that he will die and on the third day, he will rise from the dead and it manifested as he said, there shall be a manifestation of our declarations also.
The problem of modern day Christians is that, a lot of them, do not study and meditate on the word of God, so they do not witness the manifestation of the power of God, in their lives.
Such an experience over time, give them the impression that the spirit of God dwells in different dimensions in believers. This then leads them to seek solutions to their challenges from so called powerful men of God.
Some Pastors also fall into this misconception of the measure of the spirit of God in believers. When the size of a Pastor’s church for instance, is not increasing the way he had been praying for self-doubt sometimes begin to set in.
Especially, if he begins to compare his church with that of say a colleague from the same Bible School, then he begins to wonder if there is not a spiritual secret he is not aware of.
This is when, if care is not taken, fellow Pastors who appears to be very successful in the ministry but are using occultic powers, could sway them from the narrow path and get them trapped in the Devil’s clutches and eventually and inevitably, destroy their lives. God bless.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
Introduction
You have been there. Twenty tabs open comparing laptops. A blank page for an email you’ve been “thinking about” for three days. A menu with 30 options and you leave hungry.
This is decision paralysis: the state where the volume of information, options, or perceived stakes prevents you from making a decision at all. It’s not laziness. It’s a cognitive overload response.
In a data-rich environment, it’s becoming the default mode for both individuals and organisations.
This article breaks down why it happens, how it shows up, what it costs, and how to break it.
1. What decision paralysis actually is?
Decision paralysis is a failure of the decision-making system to convert information into action. Psychologists call it ‘analysis paralysis’ or ‘choice overload.’
It has three components:
1. Cognitive overload: Working memory can hold between four to seven chunks of information at once. When you try to track 20 variables, the system freezes.
2. Anticipatory regret: You overestimate the pain of making the wrong choice. The brain avoids the emotional cost by avoiding the choice.
3. Ambiguity aversion: Humans prefer known risks over unknown ones. When outcomes are uncertain, we stall.
The result is not neutral. Not deciding is a decision. It costs time, momentum, and opportunity
2. Why it’s getting worse now
2.1 Infinite options
Amazon has 350 million products. Netflix has 6000+ titles. Dating apps have unlimited profiles. The paradox of choice: more options increase initial satisfaction but decrease final satisfaction and increase regret.
2.2 Information abundance without synthesis
You can find 50 studies on sleep. Each one has caveats, conflicting results, and different methodologies. Without a framework to integrate them, more data creates more confusion, not clarity. This connects directly to the “data-rich, wisdom-poor” problem.
2.3 Reversibility anxiety
In the digital age, most decisions feel permanent. A bad post goes viral. A bad hire is public on LinkedIn. A bad career move is visible. The fear of irreversible error makes people delay.
2.4 Algorithmic mirroring
Platforms show you what you already engage with. This creates an illusion that there’s one ‘best’ option you are missing. You keep searching, convinced the optimal choice is one more scroll away.
3. How it shows up
Personal Level
Cannot pick a career path after six months of ‘research’
Spend two hours choosing a movie and watch nothing
Delay sending an email because it ‘isn’t perfect’
3.1 Organisational level
Teams spend 80 per cent of time in meetings gathering data, 20 per cent deciding
Product teams delay launch waiting for “one more data point”
KPIs multiply but no strategic choice is made
3.2 Common cognitive tells:
Endless comparison tables
Asking for one more opinion
Reframing the problem instead of solving it
Feeling drained after thinking but not acting
By Robert Ekow Grimmond-Thompson
