Features
Name, shame, jail!
It is a month now since the curtain on the 2020/2021 Ghana Premier League (GPL) season was lowered with reports of match-fixing blighting an otherwise gleaming campaign.
The incident that tainted the season like a drop of prussic acid, was the AshantiGold SC v Inter Allies game which saw a defender of Allies – Hashmin Musah intentionally hoofing two balls into his own net – on the final day of the season.
The already-relegated Allies slumped 7-0 after the stipulated time, sending tongues wagging as to how a player could deliberately poke two goals into his own net and gleefully defending his sordid action.
Musah came on against AshantiGold with the score at 5-0 and did his own thing in the final 12 minutes.
According to the player, his action was to throw a monkey wrench in the works of an alleged match-fixing plot, adding that his team mates even congratulated him for spoiling the ‘pre-agreed’ scoreline put in place for betting reasons.
“I heard it in our hotel that a bet had been made for a correct scoreline of 5-1 against my club Inter Allies. I promised my coach that if he allows me to play from the bench, I will spoil the bet. And after the game, my team congratulated me,” Musah told Kumasi FM.
“I decided to spoil that bet because I don’t condone betting.”
Good as his intentions may be, Musah did not help matters as he rather aided in bringing the game into disrepute – hence the call by stakeholders to investigate the case – and all other games whose upshot and general play, looked all-too suspicious in the final days of the season.
It is commendable to see the Ghana Football Association (GFA) rope in the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to prowl and institute a snake-pit inquisition into the matter and possibly smoke out the culprits.
The investigations must ensure that all other persons of interest in the said case be arrested to face the full rigours of the law.
From the grapevine, the CID is making some inroads and would in no time make some arrests, prosecute and jail the perpetrators.
Nobody must be shielded if we really are determined to save our football from slipping into a nadir of further disgrace – and humiliation.
Criminal charges
Match fixing carries criminal punishment for both the bettor or sports book that arranged the fixing as well as any players that find themselvesin the act. Punishments vary from country to country. However, any individual found guilty of fixing a sporting event runs the risk of receiving stiff criminal punishments ranging from severe fines to imprisonment.
In many jurisdictions, scandals as match-fixing are treated as second degree felony. Generally, second-degree felonies, punishable by 10 years’ imprisonment, include intentional and unlawful harm to persons, perjury, and robbery. Misdemeanors, punishable by various terms of imprisonment, include assault, theft, unlawful assembly, official corruption, and public nuisances.
The penalties associated with match fixing activities clearly demonstrate the seriousness of this behaviour.
Spectator losses
While those involved with match fixing face severe consequences if they are caught, fans suffer, too. Fans either see their team perform worse than they should or are hurt if the team later faces sanctions. The individuals most injured are the bettors or books who are victims of the fraud, who lose out on money on what was believed to be a fair bet.
Player losses
Innocent players also fall victim to their teammates’ illicit actions. As the matches are happening, the players who are giving their all and trying to win are unaware that despite their best efforts their teammates are working to ensure that they are not successful. Additionally, any sanctions handed down on a team hurt the innocent players as much as the cheaters.
Aside the jail sentences of players and officials, clubs could also suffer severe sanctions to serve as deterrent to other potential law breakers.
On July 14, 2006, a long-awaited verdict on the infamous Italian match-fixing scandal left three of the four top clubs implicated, relegated to Serie B whilst all four clubs started the following season with points deductions.
Juventus were hit hardest as they began the season at the bottom of Serie B with a 30-point penalty. They were stripped of their Serie A titles for 2004/5 and 2005/6 and barred from taking the Champions League spot that goes with the title. Fiorentina were relegated with a 12-point deduction and missed out on their Champions League spot.
Lazio also joined them in Serie B with a seven-point penalty and stripped of their UEFA Cup place. The fourth club to be implicated, AC Milan, escaped relegation but started their campaign in the top-flight with a 15-point handicap. Like the others, they were not allowed to compete in the Champions League the following season.
The penalties were imposed by a special committee set up to investigate match-fixing and interference with referees beginning in the season 2004/5. Police were listening-in to telephone conversations involving Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi as part of the investigation into a separate scandal of doping in Serie A football. What they heard was a conversation between Moggi arranging for certain matches officials to be appointed to certain games. Further investigations implicated Juventus further and also brought the other three clubs into the fray.
On March 28, 2007, Ghana football witnessed one of its most controversial and embarrassing matches ever as Nania FC, Okwawu United, Mighty Jets and Great Mariners were all involved in a Division One game.
The upshot was that the clubs were demoted and fined $20,000 each, while their players were also suspended for the rest of that season and the next campaign.
It is not too clear what the AshantiGold v Inter Allies investigations would bring forth. But whatever it is, nobody should be shielded or treated with kid’s gloves. The perpetrators must be named, shamed and jailed to serve as a disincentive to other potential criminals.
PlainTalk With JOHN VIGAH
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
