The position of the Sports Minister with regards to the Black Stars in saying the Ministry has no money to buy tickets for the foreign-based players to honour the AFCON clash with Rwanda keeps me thinking and I am tempted to say such a posture is unprofessional.

Inasmuch as I partly agree that we could use fringe players for the game because we have already qualified, I must quickly condemn the posture of the Sports Minister on the subject.

But let me swiftly ask yhis question; Is it really true that the Ministry cannot take care of the Paralympic team and Maidens unless money is diverted from Black stars budget or just maybe the motive is different?

If it is true that the Minister has to divert funds from the Black Stars' budget in order for the Black Maidens and the Paralympic team to survive, then I think government should forget about funding of sports entirely and concentrate on other sectors of nation building because they are not really committed to developing sports in the country.

Even if the country is broke (I disagree the country is broke), should we accept a situation that government has to forgo air tickets of one national team in order to support other national teams?

For how long can government continue on this path? Clearly not sustainable.

I refuse to accept that in this era of modern football, Ghana cannot buy plane tickets for the Black Stars because of other commitments.

Since when did Ghana care about other disciplines and national teams in such a way that we have to forgo Black Stars tickets to cater for them?

If this is not a convinient and opportune coincidence to show someone "where power lies" then Ghana sports have no future.

If not the Minister trying to show someone where power lies, what stopped him from alerting the management committee of the Black Stars and for that matter the FA when Ghana played the penultimate group game with Mauritius in June?

I think some of us are myopic minded to be calling for locally-based players to face Rwanda when we have World Cup qualifiers coming up in a month or so. Egypt, Congo and Uganda are all using their first team players to play their last games even though they have all qualified but for Uganda. They are doing this because they have the world cup qualifiers at the back of their minds. Yet, we are still fighting over tickets for players to honour the game against Rwanda.

I am not saying the locally-based players cannot represent the nation against Rwanda, more especially when we have already qualified. But the approach of the Minister is wrong and a total disrespect to the handlers of the national team. Do you have to announce your intentions on WhatsApp platforms and on radio? Do we still have the qualifiers in mind which comes off next month?

Hope they will call for local players for the World Cup qualifiers in October well as the AFCON which comes off in January.

Are we simply saying that when clubs do not necessarily need points at a particular match, they can afford to use any other player, and not necessarily their main team?

My point is where will Ghana get the money from to buy tickets for the foreign players during the WC qualifiers in October and the AFCON in January.

Is ANDRE going to be responsible for that too, or local players will be called to play?

Andre stepping in to buy tickets has both serious implications and connotations

I have come to the conclusion that officialdom are never serious about sports including even football in Ghana even though they pretend to.

Even if we would use local players as the Minister has been calling for, couldn't the call have been made earlier?

The Sports Minister keeps saying he understands the game but his approach to matters of football indicates he is completely bankrupt when it comes to football management.

Our glorious days are in the past and we can only hope the situation will change one day during our lifetime.

But from all indications, the posture of the Minister gives no hope.