One of the most serious drawbacks on us as Ghanaians is our inability to follow outstanding issues and happenings.
Problems, accidents and incidents occur which receive initial loud national publicity and attention. Remember the collapsed Melcom building and another one around Abeka junction.
Indeed it would serve the national good if one of our newspapers would assign a reporter the responsibility of keeping a diary of outstanding issues, incidents and all reported promises on national issues, following them continually and asking for their updating, completion and fulfilment. That would certainly keep the issues constantly in focus till they are resolved.
As referees, we have had our share of issues and happenings, some of which we appear to have conveniently left hanging and forgotten. I don’t want to recall long buried issues of the missing cash in the RAG office and the alleged bribe money in a referee’s socks.
The more recent issue is the case of some twelve Premier League referees who were caught age-cheating and were suspended for six months for the offence.
The six months have lapsed and the affected referees have been asked to establish their correct ages through the dates on their Junior High School Certificates. The referees have submitted the needed information to the Referee Association of Ghana, and since then they have been left in limbo and not handling matches.
But right now, the Referees Association is preparing feverishly to run refresher courses for referees throughout the country. These courses will end up with the selection of referees who would be listed on the Premier and Division One League lists.
The question one would like to ask is whether those referees who had long finished serving the sanctions imposed on them since last year would be included in the refresher courses and other selection processes and for that matter would be considered to handle matches again. My information is that the leadership of the RAG would like to clear all the issues with the Ghana Football Association.
And that the RAG would not embarrass itself by submitting those referees’ names only for the GFA to start asking questions. That is good but this is where I disagree (somehow) with the RAG leaders. The business of leadership involves a lot.
The RAG big men should take a positive interest in the progress of the affected referees. It should be possible for an officer of the RAG executive to follow up to the West African Exams Council to find out the veracity of the information that the referees have submitted. As leaders we should be prepared always to work in the interest of all our members.
The referees are all very young and below thirty-five years. They have missed FIFA listing but they could still be very useful on the local scene. We should not throw away the baby with the bathwater.
Perhaps someone would think that I am pleading the case for the affected referees because I have a relative among them. It is true I have a close relative among them, but I am bringing up the issue because of the interest of all the affected referees.
As pointed out, all the referees are very young and certainly good materials for our leagues. The issue of reduced ages for referees is a delicate one. Although I have no evidence, I can predict that many other referees will be found out as age cheaters if and when they are subjected to the same age testing exercise that the other referees went through.
Perhaps, even some notable referees may not escape the scrutiny. Although that is not the issue, it only shows that we should handle the matter with a human face, as this appears to be the first time that we have taken this path.
We should also make it as part of our recruitment method to check the ages of our potential referees thoroughly. Age is a natural asset and since nobody can cheat nature, we should insist on the correct ages of our referees.
We should not leave this matter to join the list of outstanding matters like the issue of our promising referee who died after violent assault in the Western Region. Some sort of post-mordern report was issued.
We were not satisfied, but we have left it hanging. The assailants of referee Kyeremanteng and his assistant, George Seija, in Cape Coast are walking free, and many others. We should wakeup.
