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Pursuing a shinning legacy: Building fresh sets of Black Satellites
Barely two months after their gold medal winning feat at the 2023 Africa Games hosted by Ghana, a team of Technical Handlers, led by gold medal winning Coach Desmond Offei, have commenced an intensive and wide ranging search for the next stock of footballing talent.
They are expected to take up the mantle from their illustrious predecessors who have, over the last three years, consistently won laurels and lifted the flag of Ghana high.
This first phase of the search for more talented footballers effectively started on May 1st, 2024, and will run all the way through till 16th June, 2024.
A generation of Ghana’s Black Satellites won the 2021 WAFU Zone B Championship, and the U20 AFCON thus qualifying for the U20 World Cup. That World Cup tournament was cancelled by FIFA due to Covid-19. The next generation of Black Satellites won the gold medal at the 2023 Africa Games.
Whilst the nation continues to bask in the glorious feats of the Black Satellites, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in its pursuit of consistent high levels of performance by the national teams, commissioned Coaches Desmond Ofei, Nii Odartey Lamptey, Salifu Fatawu and Isaac Amoako to scout for more talents that would augment the current crop of Under 20 players.
The ongoing scouting activity has been necessitated by the fact that a number of the current squad are ready for promotion to the Black Meteors (National U23). In addition to this, the Technical team are looking to further strengthen the squad and deepen the pool of available talent.
The scouting team shall observe several matches in the Division One and Premier Leagues with the net being cast all over the country.
Additionally, three Mini-Tournaments involving selected players shall be organised in three zones, as follows:
Northern Zone: Upper East, Upper West, Northern, North East Middle Zone: Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Ashanti, Savanna, Oti Southern Zone: Greater Accra, Western, Western North, Central, Eastern, Volta.
By the end of this phase of scouting for the national Under 20 team, a number of top talents would have been selected for further assessment ahead of putting together Ghana’s next generation of Black Satellites.
With this approach, underpinned by identification of talents best suited to Ghana’s football philosophy (DNA), the needed foundation for continuing success would have been laid.
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Traders, ‘Okada’ riders take over Circle pavement
• Korle-Bu CEO with staff of Nivaansh MediQas
Activities of traders and drug addicts are contributing to make the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange (Circle) area very uncomfortable and unsafe for commuters.
Day in and out, pedestrians are ‘ejected’ from the pavement created for their safety as traders preferred to sell their wares on that space.
That hinders the free movement of the pedestrians.
The small space left for the pedestrians are also shared with ‘Okada’ riders.
As if these woes are not enough for a commuter on a single day, they also have to navigate carefully to avoid clashes with drug addicts and the mentally challenged.
These people have turned the pavements into their places of abode, covering every inch of space with their wares.
Our photographer, Lizzy Okai, captures some of the unfriendly scenes the authorities must try and deal with to restore sanity to the area.
By Lizzy Okai
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NDC outlines demands before committing to Peace Pact
The National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has set forth specific conditions that the party insists must be met before considering signing the Peace Pact advocated by the National Peace Council in anticipation of the December 7 elections.
Mr. Nketia expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of past Peace Pacts, highlighting that they had not achieved their intended outcomes, particularly referencing the 2020 elections, during which eight NDC members were allegedly killed by national security operatives without accountability.
During an August 20 meeting with the National Peace Council at the NDC headquarters, Mr. Nketia detailed the certain conditions for the NDC’s participation in the Peace Pact.
The NDC is demanding that the recommendations from the investigation into the violence during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election be fully implemented.
They also want those responsible for election-related violence in the last election to be prosecuted, stressing the importance of justice and prevention.
The party is calling for accountability regarding irregularities in the printing of ballot papers and insists that visible measures be taken to prevent such issues from happening again.
They are also pushing for a thorough investigation into the missing IT equipment from the Electoral Commission’s (EC) warehouse, expressing concerns about the integrity of the EC’s systems and the potential bias of its staff.
Furthermore, the NDC is urging the President to publicly commit to respecting the results of the 2024 elections. Lastly, the party insists that the Peace Pact should be signed by key figures, including the Inspector General of Police, the Chief Justice, the Attorney-General, and the National Security Coordinator, before they will consider signing it themselves.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
