Ace sports journalist, Saddick Adams, has commended legendary Ghanaian footballer Asamoah Gyan for accepting the call by the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for him (Asamoah Gyan) to serve on the committee that will be drafting his manifesto for the 2024 elections.
Saddick Adams, who is the head of sports at Angel Broadcasting Network (ABN-Accra), believes that Gyan’s decision is a positive step that must be welcomed by Ghanaians.
He reasons that Gyan, a sports technocrat, has the potential to contribute significantly to policy decisions that will shape the future of sports in the country.
Sports Obama, as he is fondly called, encouraged more sports personalities to take up political roles as their presence in the political field could be to the benefit of the sports sector.
He chided Ghanaians who have been critical of Gyan’s move, questioning the logic of their attacks on the former Sunderland striker.
Sports Obama warned that Ghana risks losing out on the resourceful and brilliant contributions of technocrats if the politics of insults continue to fester.
“If he’s done with football and wants to be a politician, I don’t find anything wrong with it. He has to be encouraged to make a choice and he has to choose what he wants. The only problem is that people elsewhere do not get attacked for saying they like this or that. We’ve seen actors join politics and nothing happened.
“This idea that once you enter politics, you must be insulted is not good and we must do away with it. We have to stop the insults and make our politics better. People with experience must be allowed to enter politics.
“We have to make it an arena where anyone who has anything to contribute can enter and make an impact. I don’t support the idea of Gyan being attacked. He has not offended anyone,” he said.
On Wednesday, February 21, 2024, Asamoah Gyan was appointed as a member of the manifesto committee for Dr. Bawumia’s presidential campaign. Specifically, he was designated as the chair of the youth and sports sub-committee, tasked with leveraging his expertise to formulate strategies for sports development and the advancement of Ghanaian youth.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on the same day, February 21, 2024, Gyan expressed his readiness to contribute to the cause. Drawing from his extensive career experience, he emphasised his capability to utilise his knowledge for the betterment of sports in the country.
“I always ask myself, How do we create change if we don’t want to change? How do we spectate without being on the bench and how do we score without being on the field?
“How do we pass on the baton to the next generation if we don’t share our experience? How do we achieve this without a clear path ahead? I believe that with collective experiences, we can orient the next generation to do better than what we did. We can give hope where hope is lost and we can inspire when all hope seems lost,” excerpts of his post read.