Listening to so much ado, mostly on radio, over the past two days, about government sponsorship of some selected institutions to watch the World Cup matches in South Africa, the impression one gets is of an endeavour that was either poorly thought-through or miserably executed.
What would otherwise have been a worthy follow-up to the first mission to Angola is on the verge of voting itself as a disappointment likely to dent the government’s image in the eyes, particularly, of those whose names, through no fault of theirs, did not find their way onto the official manifests.
We are told that the same government team handled the Angola trip; so the question we ask is: what happened this time?
We grant the assertion by the Deputy Minister of Sports that some institutions submitted two sets of names and that the suspicion is that the other lists were on photocopied letter-heads. Trust the ubiquitous 419!
We grant, also, that some people, such as the so-called pastor who missed his flight because after ensuring his name was on the manifest, he took off to town and came back after the flight had taken off.
That, however, is all we can grant.
Listening to the explanations offered by officials on the government side, one cannot help but wonder what level of planning was carried out. The original intention, the nation has been told, was to carry in excess of 2,000 Ghanaians to South Africa for a match each on rotational basis.
However, after careful calculation, and with a frugal eye on an overstretched national purse, the planners decided to slash the number, first, to 1,500 and later, to 1,000. This is all fine: it shows that the country still has government functionaries who think about cost.
The question, however, is: why did the planners rush to communicate the initial decision of 2,000-plus to the beneficiary organizations/institutions? Based on this initial figure, the institutions and organizations were allocated figures that were on the high side.
The government officials are saying that when the final 1,000 decision was taken, a second round of communication was sent out to the beneficiary institutions and organizations.
On radio yesterday, representatives of some of the institutions said that no such communication went to them. Ours is not a question of whom to believe.
We credit the planners with hard work. But, as they themselves know too well, hard work is no synonym for good work. Hard work without effective, meticulous planning, often counts as zero effort.
The effect of the hard work without effective planning, is the large number of people from all over the country who had massed at the El Wak stadium, disappointed, hungry and angry.
Some had traveled far, having said goodbye to relations and friends, in the confident assurance that they were not only traveling to watch the World Cup, but for many of them, were traveling for the first by air and out of the country.
What a blow! Thus, all the good intentions of the government were about to go down the drain.
To salvage the government image, therefore, some other officials, talking mostly for the NDC party, quickly got together to attempt to raise funds to make the dreams of the stranded passengers come true.
That is a commendable act of grace.
However, as the Deputy Minister of Sports has cautioned, these kind officials should be careful to ensure that beyond securing the people an aircraft to convey them to South Africa, the challenge of accommodation and feeding, as well as internal transportation – and even tickets to the stadia – are well secured.
If this is not done, the consequences of their act of grace would turn the people more bitter against the government. The fear is the picture of a large number of Ghanaians stranded in South Africa.
Meanwhile, the Ghanaian Times is wondering: Is the 1,000 figure to South Africa not on the high side? Make no mistake: we think the gesture is good, and we had good reason to praise government for the Angola initiative.
However, for the nation to foot the air-fare, accommodation, meals, internal transportation and match tickets for 1,000 people in an era of troublesome times with electricity and water tariffs is, we think, an expense that could have been reconsidered.
What would otherwise have been a worthy follow-up to the first mission to Angola is on the verge of voting itself as a disappointment likely to dent the government’s image in the eyes, particularly, of those whose names, through no fault of theirs, did not find their way onto the official manifests.
We are told that the same government team handled the Angola trip; so the question we ask is: what happened this time?
We grant the assertion by the Deputy Minister of Sports that some institutions submitted two sets of names and that the suspicion is that the other lists were on photocopied letter-heads. Trust the ubiquitous 419!
We grant, also, that some people, such as the so-called pastor who missed his flight because after ensuring his name was on the manifest, he took off to town and came back after the flight had taken off.
That, however, is all we can grant.
Listening to the explanations offered by officials on the government side, one cannot help but wonder what level of planning was carried out. The original intention, the nation has been told, was to carry in excess of 2,000 Ghanaians to South Africa for a match each on rotational basis.
However, after careful calculation, and with a frugal eye on an overstretched national purse, the planners decided to slash the number, first, to 1,500 and later, to 1,000. This is all fine: it shows that the country still has government functionaries who think about cost.
The question, however, is: why did the planners rush to communicate the initial decision of 2,000-plus to the beneficiary organizations/institutions? Based on this initial figure, the institutions and organizations were allocated figures that were on the high side.
The government officials are saying that when the final 1,000 decision was taken, a second round of communication was sent out to the beneficiary institutions and organizations.
On radio yesterday, representatives of some of the institutions said that no such communication went to them. Ours is not a question of whom to believe.
We credit the planners with hard work. But, as they themselves know too well, hard work is no synonym for good work. Hard work without effective, meticulous planning, often counts as zero effort.
The effect of the hard work without effective planning, is the large number of people from all over the country who had massed at the El Wak stadium, disappointed, hungry and angry.
Some had traveled far, having said goodbye to relations and friends, in the confident assurance that they were not only traveling to watch the World Cup, but for many of them, were traveling for the first by air and out of the country.
What a blow! Thus, all the good intentions of the government were about to go down the drain.
To salvage the government image, therefore, some other officials, talking mostly for the NDC party, quickly got together to attempt to raise funds to make the dreams of the stranded passengers come true.
That is a commendable act of grace.
However, as the Deputy Minister of Sports has cautioned, these kind officials should be careful to ensure that beyond securing the people an aircraft to convey them to South Africa, the challenge of accommodation and feeding, as well as internal transportation – and even tickets to the stadia – are well secured.
If this is not done, the consequences of their act of grace would turn the people more bitter against the government. The fear is the picture of a large number of Ghanaians stranded in South Africa.
Meanwhile, the Ghanaian Times is wondering: Is the 1,000 figure to South Africa not on the high side? Make no mistake: we think the gesture is good, and we had good reason to praise government for the Angola initiative.
However, for the nation to foot the air-fare, accommodation, meals, internal transportation and match tickets for 1,000 people in an era of troublesome times with electricity and water tariffs is, we think, an expense that could have been reconsidered.
