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Hughton’s clock ticking (Part 1)
Chris Hughton
It is becoming increasingly difficult to be involved in conversations over the performance of Ghana’s Black Stars without playing the blame game.
In fact, being and remaining a fan of the national senior team has become a Herculean task which weight is beginning to weigh on the shoulders of fans.
Those that can no longer bear the pain and constant disappointment have called it quit, preferring to stay in neutral corners and ask of results of their matches.
A lot of fans have taken that difficult decision to stop supporting the Black Stars for many reasons – bordering on player selection, the team’s administrators, the technical team, avoiding heartbreaks and many other reasons.
It is a painful decision because it feels like whatever grievances they express just hang around the neck; it gets nowhere near the corridors of power as far as the game’s administration was concerned, let alone to be considered.
The aches and suffering notwithstanding, there remain a few faithful to the Black Stars course.
Theirs have been that one day the expected changes they crave for or wish to see would happen. For this group of people, their consolation appears to be a frequent diagnosis of the Black Stars ‘ailment’ match after match and suggest ways of addressing them.
A senior colleague at work,
Alhaji Salifu Abdul-Rahaman, is one of such loyal fans of the Black Stars I know. He’ll wear his Black Stars replica jersey on any day or time to show his support for the team while we wonder what keeps him going.
If the team plays on a Saturday, one can bet to see him in his replica jersey the following day to work. We refer to the Black Stars as ‘Alhaji’s team.’
What is left for such loyal fans is the recurrent post-match analysis that ends up in blame games, that is, identifying problems that contributed to the team’s woeful display and blame players and coaches for that.
He shared with me an interesting observation on one of the social media platforms where a fan expressed indignation at Baba Rahman for being at fault for the first of the four goals the USA scored against Ghana in the latest international friendly match played in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Amusingly, Baba Rahman was nowhere near the team that suffered the back-to-back defeats of the Black Stars by the USA and Mexico, two games Ghana registered just a single shot on target.
Obviously, this may be a fan that had missed the lineup but assumed most of the blunders at the back of the team could be associated with the defender.
He is not the only player or victim to have suffered from such imaginative assessment. Andre Ayew has been one and even his brother Jordan.
When they are featured and results do not go in the team’s favour, then they become the scapegoats.
When the team performs, then fans understand the need to have experience players in the team.
The coaches are also not spared or isolated from the blame for the choices of players selected for particular games like it happened after the USA match when a fan described the players as mediocre.
This has been the trend for some time now anytime the Black Stars are involved in a game; and it does not look like ending now, at least until the GFA and the Black Stars get their acts right.
By Andrew Nortey
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Focus on more pressing issues like Galamsey, not hate speech – Ellen Ama Daaku to Mahama
An aide to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia,Ellen Ama Daaku has advised President John Dramani Mahama to shift his attention from social media hate speech to more urgent national issues such as illegal mining.
Speaking in an interview, she noted that the President’s recent comments about tracking the IP addresses of people who spread hate speech were unnecessary.
According to her, President Mahama must first define what he considers to be hate speech before seeking to punish people for it.
Ms. Daaku argued that the President himself had benefitted from hate speech and social media attacks in the past when he was in opposition.
She said even during his time in government, he described his opponents and their tribesmen in unpalatable terms, which later drew complaints from former President Nana Akufo-Addo to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
She stressed that harsh criticism of leaders on social media should not automatically be considered hate speech, adding that former leaders, including former President Nana Akufo-Addo had all been subjected to it.
“He is only feeling what Nana Akufo-Addo went through for eight years,” she remarked.
While acknowledging the need to regulate misconduct online, Ms. Daaku insisted that going after social media activists should not be a priority.
She noted that many political activists, including herself, had been insulted and attacked online but never called for arrests.
She concluded that President Mahama should focus his energy on solving pressing problems such as galamsey and the economy instead of concentrating on critics on social media.
By: Jacob Aggrey
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Prof Alidu Seidu files nomination for Tamale Central seat
The newly elected parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Tamale Central, Prof Alidu Seidu, has submitted his nomination forms to the Electoral Commission.
As of 10:00 a.m. today, he was the only person who had filed to contest the seat.
Nomination of candidates will close at the end of the day.
Associate Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at the University of Ghana Legon, Prof. Alidu Seidu won the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries in the Tamale Central constituency with a landslide victory.
The elections, supervised by the party’s Elections and IT Directorate in the Northern Region, saw Prof. Seidu poll 840 votes out of the total valid ballots cast.
His closest contender, Lawyer Hanan Gundadow Abdul-Rahaman, secured 536 votes.
The other aspirants could not make significant gains, with Dr. Seidu Fiter obtaining 44 votes, Aliu Abdul-Hamid 23 votes, and the rest recording fewer than 10 votes each.
In all, 1,500 ballots were cast, with 6 ballots rejected and 7 spoilt ballots recorded.
The results were signed and declared by Dr. Arnold Mashud Abukari, NDC Northern Regional Director of Elections and IT.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) held parliamentary primaries in Tamale Central to choose a candidate for the upcoming by-election following the death of the sitting Member of Parliament, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed. Dr. Mohammed, who also served as Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, tragically died in a military helicopter crash in the Adansi Akrofuom District on August 6, 2025, alongside seven others.
His passing left the Tamale Central seat vacant, as required by Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
The Electoral Commission has scheduled the by-election for September 30, 2025. While the NDC moved quickly to open nominations and vet aspirants, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) announced it would not contest the seat, citing the need to respect the somber circumstances and promote national unity.
By: Jacob Aggrey
