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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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GEXIM deepens relations with US EXIM Bank

A management team of the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) led by the Acting Chief Executive, Sylvester Mensah met with the leadership of the Export–Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) on Wednesday April 23, 2025 in Washington DC, United States of America.

The Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM, Mr. James C. Cruse and Vice President, International Relations, Ms. Isabel Galdiz received the GEXIM delegation, which included Deputy CEO for Banking, Mr. Moses Klu Mensah and Head of International Cooperation, Mr. Jonathan Christopher Koney at the headquarters of US EXIM.

The meeting offered the GEXIM team the opportunity to share the strategic direction of the Bank in line with the resetting agenda of the President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama for the repositioning of the Ghanaian economy into an export-led one by providing the requisite investment to Ghanaian businesses.

Mr. James C. Cruse expressed US EXIM’s eagerness to deepen its existing relations with GEXIM and proposed the signing of a new Cooperative Framework Agreement following the expiration of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 to utilize US EXIM’s medium term loan guarantees to procure machinery by GEXIM for qualified Ghanaian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Mr.Sylvester Mensah thanked the Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM for hosting the GEXIM delegation and reaffirmed the Ghanaian government’s commitment to strengthening trade and investment between Ghana and its global partners for economic transformation of Ghana with GEXIM playing a pivotal role.

The two teams will be meeting on the sidelines of the 2025 US EXIM Annual Conference on 29th and April 30, 2025 to explore possible areas of collaboration and matching Ghanaian businesses to American companies. The meeting ended with an exchange of gifts.

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Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation –Pres.Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has expressed concern over the misuse of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for personal financial gain by individuals in leadership positions.

Speaking during a meeting with Chief Executives of specified entities under the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) on Thursday, March 13, the President directly attributed the dire state of SOEs to their leadership, accusing chief executives, management teams, and governing boards of prioritising personal enrichment over organisational efficiency.

He pointed to bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures as factors draining public funds while SOEs continue to rely on government bailouts.

“Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation by appointees. The chief executives, management, and boards of these enterprises are responsible for this situation. Some SOEs have become perennial loss-makers, draining public funds with bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures while relying on government bailouts as if entitled to them. Many of these entities are at their lowest point in the entire history of the Fourth Republic,” he said.

President Mahama further noted that many SOEs have been plagued by inefficiencies, corruption, and mismanagement, leading to consistent financial losses. He cited the 2023 State Ownership Report by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), which highlighted systemic inefficiencies and wasteful expenditures within these entities.

He therefore reaffirmed his commitment to reforming under-performing SOEs and ensuring they serve national interests.

He warned that loss-making SOEs will no longer be tolerated and will either be merged, privatised, or closed.

“I will assess you based on your performance. If you do not align with the pace of the reset agenda, you may be asked to step aside. If that adds to the horror movie, so be it,” he added.

Source: Myjoyonline.com