The Chronicle: Is it prudent to invite Mubarak Wakaso?

The manager for the senior national team, the Black Stars, Charles Kwabia Akunnor, held a news conference in Accra yesterday to announce the team he will use to face Sudan later this month in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

Among the names released was Mubarak Wakaso, a dynamic midfielder who currently plays for Jiangsu, in the Chinese league. Though The Chronicle is not seeking to challenge the basis for calling the midfielder, we think it is a wrong move by the coach.

Following the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus in the communist state, which has killed thousands of people, most countries have started banning flights from China. Here in Ghana, our government has been cagey evacuating thousands of Ghanaians, including students stranded in China, for fear of bringing the virus into the country.

Though government has come under strong criticisms, especially from her political opponents, she has stood her grounds not to evacuate the stranded Ghanaians. With this background, The Chronicle is surprised that CK Akunnor has decided to extend an invitation to Wakaso. We are not drawing any conclusion that Wakaso has acquired the coronavirus, indeed, we do not have any evidence to that effect.

But due to the circumstances we have found ourselves in, the role of safety should have first come to mind. One of the biggest clubs in the world, Manchester United, recently quarantined a player they had signed from a Chinese club, Shangai Shenshua, a 30 year old Odion Ighalo, for two weeks for fear of having the coronavirus. Ighalo was quarantined at a private facility with a personal trainer where he ‘trains away from Manchester United’s training grounds for the first two weeks of his united career.

Even Manchester United, with all the modern technologies at the disposal of the United Kingdom, took this decision because they wanted to protect their people. Since Wakaso is a Ghanaian, nobody can deny him entry into the country, but the big question is, can we quarantine him for solid two weeks before he is released to join his colleagues in camp? And should we be able to do this, how many days would he be left for him to join his colleagues to train for the match?

We need to be very careful with this invitation, because Wakaso’s own colleagues will entertain fears of getting closer to him. Should this happen, the player himself would be embarrassed, and this is what we must seek to avoid.

When the great Abedi Ayew Pele left the scene, one player who always tried to kill himself when playing for the national team, is Wakaso. His commitment to the national team can never be questioned by any fair-minded Ghanaian.

But despite all these, we need to tread cautiously if we are really thinking about the national interest. The coronavirus, according to experts, is very difficult to detect at the incubation stage, and this is what makes it very deadly. When the world is able to bring the disease under control, Mr. Wakaso is very much welcome to play for Mother Ghana, but for now, we say a big no!