Rev Osei Kofi must forgive and forget!
Ghana football legend, Osei Kofi, must have broken the hearts of his admirers with what must be an infamous comment he made recently suggesting that national athletes should place material rewards ahead of services to the nation.
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For those who might have missed the unfortunate comment carried in the MONDAY SPECIAL edition of this paper on October 12 last, Rev. Osei Kofi was reported to have said that he “wholeheartedly” supported the intransigence by the Black Stars to demand bonuses before the Ghana versus Portugal final group match at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.
“I supported them (Black Stars) wholeheartedly for their action in Brazil...” the Ghana legend of the 1963 and ‘65 Africa Nations Cup winning teams unashamedly emphasised.
We can’t stop being dumbfounded at the national icon’s unsavoury pronouncements, more so when the occasion was the launch of the Golden Jubilee of the ‘65 effort when they defended the AFCON.
As a Reverend Minister for some time now, and perhaps a preacher of the Gospel, we would have thought that Osei Kofi would be an avowed exponent of the ‘forgive and forget’ doctrine known by many a Christian.
But it appears he has not forgiven the nation nor forgotten the promise made by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah to reward him and his playing mates with a house each for their AFCON triumph in Tunisia 50 years ago which has not been fulfilled.
However, the fact that only last year President John Mahama acknowledged the nation’s indebtedness to these national football heroes and treated them to a state banquet, at which he handed the 18-member squad (alive or dead) a token of $5,000 each, should be pleasing or mitigating to Osei Kofi & Co.
It is better than nothing at all. After all, President Mahama was candid enough to tell Osei and his mates that the promise of houses could not be fulfilled in the present circumstances, hence the financial token.
For the avoidance of doubt, past footballers such as Osei Kofi are not the only national heroes or heroines to whom the country is indebted, as others in the fields of boxing and athletics have also not received their just rewards for similar heroics at international championships.
We are not in any way encouraging the idea that promises made to our sportsmen and sportswomen should go unfulfilled. But, certainly, Osei Kofi’s posture to, as it were, instigate national stars of today to demand their reward before they perform must be disappointing, especially as he is a reverend minister.
What Osei Kofi is unfortunately preaching is that national stars should first think of what the country can do for them and not what they can do for their country.
It means that nobody should give anything away in the interest of his country and that it must be reward first and service to country later.
This kind of rationalisation from no less a personality than the revered Osei Kofi must be insulting to others such as national boxing hero, David Kotei Poison, whose hard-earned money in the ring was used by the country to import essential commodities for consumption by Ghanaians in the ‘70s.
The money has still not been refunded to the former world featherweight champion. Surely, if this had happened to Osei Kofi, the heavens would have come down by now!