GHANA 2008: Are We Really Ready?

AS Ghanaians or people living in Ghana, we would all very much like to see Ghana host a very successful Cup of Nations. But to be honest we don't look ready to even host the African championships.

The stadia in Tamale and Essipong are very excellent pieces. The renovated Kumasi and Accra stadia are also very nice but hosting an event such as the Nations Cup requires more than a couple of nice looking stadia.

Our training pitches are in a terrible state and it is the same everywhere- from Accra to Sekondi - and one wonders what the LOC is doing. Seriously I believe the various venue organising committees have their hands tied in a way. The only thing they do is monitor the progress of work and nothing else. Meanwhile the contractors also feel they are not answerable to them since it was not the committees that awarded them the contracts.

Sometimes when journalists compare our infrastructure for Ghana 2008 with the likes of Egypt 2006 or Germany 2006, football fans tend to criticize us by saying the economic standing of the likes of Germany is way above Ghana. That is understandable, but even the LOC compares itself with Germany's hosting of the World Cup. Ghana might not boast of the resources to spend like Germany or Egypt but we can host this championship in a manner that will leave a legacy for the rest of Africa to follow. Where's the cup fever one may ask? I don't know how many people in the country are aware of the fact that we will be hosting the rest of Africa in January. As of now the euphoria and fever that normally grips the whole country when such tournaments takes place is just not seen anywhere. We have very beautiful stadia but what's the point if you play in a beautiful stadium with no spectators?

Rex Danquah, I believe will disagree with me on this but the hype is just not there. Radio stations should be playing jingles of Ghana 2008. Billboards advertising the tournament should be found everywhere whilst our television stations should be running adverts on the championship. We should try to set a new standard for the rest of Africa to follow. Games involving the Black Stars will market itself but what about matches like Benin vrs Mali or Sudan vrs Zambia? We only have three months to go before the tournament commences but the publicity is terrible. Organising tournaments of this nature requires a lot. Even with accommodation, I believe we're limiting ourselves to the teams coming alone. Meanwhile journalists from all over the world will be coming therefore we'll need very good hotels for them.

Last weekend alone when South Africa's “Amaglug-glug” came to Ghana, they were accompanied by 100 media men so this should give us an idea on how many media men to expect. I'm not saying the LOC haven't done anything, as that will be very unfair on my part but they obviously need to back up. China started advertising the Beijing Olympic Games last year whilst London who will be hosting the 2012 Olympics, have already started “making noise”. We are very much behind time but it is never too late. Like the famous African saying “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago and the 2nd best time is now”. The people working on the organisation don't even want to talk when journalists call them on the various radio and television stations. I'll also entreat the LOC to liaise with the Black Stars to wear T-Shirts of the event when warming up in any of their friendly matches as that will also go a long way to publicise the event.