By Solomon Davids
Your Excellency,
Greetings from the Amputee National Football Team, the Black Challenge to you and welcome back from Switzerland, where you upheld the cause of Ghana. Your efforts have yielded and will continue to yield results in your pursuit of a Better Ghana for all Ghanaians.
Your Excellency, I have been compelled to make this special open appeal to you on behalf of the Amputee National Football Team, the Black Challenge, as a result of my interaction with both the managers and playing body in the past three years.
First of all, I would like to express their gratitude to you for expressing interest in their activities and supporting them to a recent tournament in Argentina. They were surprised at your gesture, considering the way they struggled to gain the attention of the previous government. That gesture remains engrafted on their hearts.
Your Excellency, in spite of the challenges these gallant men are facing, they managed to lift the flag of Ghana high in 2007, winning the first African Cup of Nations in Sierra Leone and duly annexing a Trophy they have taken for keeps. Unfortunately, they were not given the opportunity to present the Cup to then President Kufuor, in spite of the campaign some of us in the media embarked upon to draw government’s attention to them. They did not relent in their efforts, but continued to contribute their quota to national development through soccer and other private ventures. They are currently rated 4th in the world of amputee football.
Your Excellency, fortunately, they have qualified to play in the next World Amputee Football Cup in Crespo-Entre Rios, Argentina from October 16th to 27th and this is the very reason for which I am making this passionate appeal to you.
They have three (3) major requests they want to humbly place before you as a father-for-all, who listens to the cry of your children and I present them as follows:
• That they may get some financial support from you to beef up what the National Sports Council (NSC) has made available, which is woefully inadequate. They are currently going from one organization or the other, with bowl in hand seeking sponsorship, with the help of Krypton Ghana Ltd.
• That you may grant them the special privilege of meeting you to present the Cup they won in 2007 to you as an honour and inspiration to do more in Argentina and possibly bring the World Cup to Ghana.
• That they may be given the opportunity to train at the National Hockey Pitch or the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium, in order to get used to the pitch they would be using in Argentina (Astro turf). They are presently training at the Art Centre Park, known as the Hearts Park, which has no grass and poses a lot of danger to the already challenged brothers of ours. (I personally witnessed the dangers in training on the pitch when one of them fell down after his clutches were hit by a shot).
Your Excellency, there is a lot they would like you to hear from them and I believe when you give them that rare privilege of meeting you, they would bare their hearts out to you.
I would like to mention that some strong-willed personalities have been a great pillar of support behind the team and some of them are: Mr Francis Adjetey-Sowah, Vice Chairman of Association of Sports for the Disabled (ASFOD), Coaches Ali Jarra and Benjamin Charles Armah, all of whom are physically challenged one way or the other, Mr. Neil Armstrong Mortagbe, CEO of Krypton Ghana Ltd., Mr. Tony Baffoe, former Black Stars player, Mr. Kuku Dsane, and Charles Narh Teye, Physical Trainer (another physically challenged power-lifter, among others.
Your Excellency, these requests, when granted, would not only encourage the Black Challenge to bring the World Cup to Ghana, but would also encourage Ghanaians in general and the physically challenged in particular, to contribute their quota to national development in line with the better Ghana Agenda.
Thank you in anticipation of a favourable response.
God Bless our homeland Ghana.