Mr President,
Pardon the manners of this boy from Duu, in the North East Region under Walewale District and Kpasenkpe Municipality, for addressing you through an open letter.
Where I come from, when a message is meant for an elder, you do not shout it across the compound as you would to a sibling. You draw closer, lower your voice, and whisper, “Mma says your food is ready.”
Such is the fibre of reverence I grew up with, and it is not my wish to depart from it.
However, Mr President, my options to reach you, to whisper into your ear, are limited.
So, I beg your pardon for shouting to you through the pages of Myjoyonline.com — a platform I know you read. I say this because in your last press engagement, you spoke about a story Myjoyonline.com published, and your control over the publication gave me an inkling you read from the website.
Hence, my decision to choose this medium to reach you.
If you do not find this letter, someone close to you might come across it and whisper it into your ear.
Mr President, since you assumed office on January 7, 2025, I have observed with admiration your sense of humour behind the lectern, the firmness in your policies, and the hope you offer in dark times.
I often come across comments like, “You can’t hate this man.” I have also heard your critics, particularly on galamsey. Perhaps some are ill-informed about your fight against what they describe as environmental terrorism. But show the way.
My colleague, Evans Mensah’s Tuesday, September 23, 2025, edition of PM Express had my heart racing for life. The picture he painted is worse than environmental terrorism.
Mr President, this letter, however, is not about galamsey. It is about a group of young men and a young woman who have, with sweat-soaked vests and worn-out spikes, sold Ghana to the world with their feet.
They have earned a handshake — and I do not know if your hand is in position to shake theirs.
In the story of Ghanaian sport, football has long been the golden child. It receives the money, the headlines, the attention — but in recent years, it has delivered little by way of glory.
Mr President, you were 24 when Ghana last won the African Cup of Nations title. No further comments.
To be fair, many other disciplines in this country you and I were born into witnin same period dwindled and gave little out there for any descendant of Kwame Nkrumah to be proud of.
Hence, I would love to limit this to the last six years. Your Office may have the data of the country’s investment into the various sporting disciplines and their returns.
I dare say football, especially the senior national team, has had massive investment — more than any other team or discipline. Despite this, they have brought us more pain than joy, and often walked to the bank smiling. Even management members, who are privileged fans, have enjoyed over $100,000 for flying with the boys and watching them play at close range.
In contrast, athletics — often ignored — has been our shining light within the same period, though the heartbreaks are similar.
The pain is not making the podium can’t be compared to that of our national team because you pumped little or nothing into how they get there.
Your Excellency, a group of young men and a lady, often forgotten at home, have been carrying our flag with dignity, sacrifice, and astonishing consistency.
It began in 2019 at the African Games in Rabat, when Ghana’s men’s 4×100m relay team burst onto the continental stage. Their victory was emphatic. Their time — 38.30s — set a Games record that still stands today.
That gold medal was more than just a win; it was a signal that Ghana could compete and win at the very highest level of athletics.
But since that golden night in Morocco, the journey has been defined less by support and more by survival. These athletes have had to fund themselves, train abroad, and cobble resources together just to make it to the start line.
Your Excellency, on Saturday, September 20, 2025, I saw your meeting with Asante Kotoko and Bibiani GoldStars. I was not there, but our Presidential Correspondent made available the files for me to decide the meat of your meeting.
You spoke for six minutes, fifty-seven seconds (6:57s), and within that period, there were many great soundbites, and I published about four stories from that nearly seven-minute speech:
- The $100,000 you gave to the two clubs.
- Your decision to build seven new stadia.
- Asking the two clubs to make Ghana proud.
- Government support to Ghana Premier League Clubs before the start of the season
Permit me to quote you verbatim, “…we’ve agreed that with all the savings we are making in terms of expenditure, we’re cutting down expenditure, we’ve cut down the size of government, we’re avoiding wastes of our national resources.
“It frees up more resources for us to invest in the things that are important, and sports is one of them.
“And so next year, the finance minister is going to present the budget in November. And I was telling the sports minister and the Director General of the National Sports Authority that next year, we’re going to build about seven brand new stadia.
“We want that every region should have a stadium that is fit for purpose so that we can improve the playing conditions and make our football more competitive.
“Aside from that, as a token, at the start of the [Ghana] Premier [League], we have managed to give every club something. It’s a start. I’m sure the fund will grow.
“We’re creating a sports development fund and we’re encouraging corporate businesses and all others, including government.
“Government will also put some money into it. so that we can support you when you go into African competitions and even when you’re playing locally. And so I’m happy to receive you and to say that millions of Ghanaians, especially young aspiring footballers, are going to be following your progress. Our expectations are high and you carry the expectations of all Ghanaians on your shoulders.
“The good thing about sports, and especially football, is that it unites us. Because supporters of Kotoko are Dagatis, they are Dagombas, they are Ashantis, they are Fantis. I mean, from across the world, across the country, different ethnic groups support different clubs. Supporters of Hearts of Oak, too, are spread across the country.
“And it is the sports and the football that brings us all together. And so if we put money into sports and into football, we’re putting money into building a united country.
“And that is not resources that have been wasted.
“…on behalf of the presidency, we know football is an expensive activity, especially when you’re going out to the continent.
“And so working with my Chief of Staff, we have a token for you. It’s in dollars, because you’ll be traveling out. And so we have $50,000 for each of the two clubs.
“So Bibiani [GoldStars] will get $50,000, Asante kotoko will $50,000. At least it will help defray some of the cost of the tickets and the accommodation that you have to rent when you get into Africa. So I thank you very much, and we’re all looking up to you.
“God bless you. God bless Ghana.”
Your Excellency, your kind gesture towards Kotoko and GoldStars is appreciated.
Mr President, your kind gesture to private companies under the umbrella of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) which has seen each club receive GHC 1m before the start of the new season is deeply appreciated, but could you please extend a fraction of that to Team Ghana, too, after the performance at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo?
The investment into the domestic league is to build it to produce players to feed into the national team as you said, but these boys, with zero investment in their talent, have been there and done it.
As you noted, football is expensive. Athletics is equally an expensive activity because the individual has the responsibility of financing every aspect of his career. While footballers are paid humongous amounts, athletes do not get the same.
Mr President, I know you value sports as a tool for unity. As quoted eight paragraphs above, “Putting money into sports is putting money into building a united country.”
Those words were true for Kotoko and Bibiani GoldStars. They are even truer for the athletes who stand alone on the world stage with only the flag of Ghana on their chest.
When Abdul Rasheed Saminu raced to the finish line at 37.79s, shattering the previous national record, putting Ghana as the country with the fourth-fastest time in the world this year — behind USA, Canada, and South Africa — the jubilation had no ethnic or tribal lines.
Your Excellency, may I draw your attention to this point: these athletes don’t know what a bonus is. The only thing this country they sweat for has ever given them is per diem.
While we dole out dollars as bonus and appearance fees for qualifying to tournaments, these boys have never had anything of that sort either for qualifying to the Olympics or World Championships or Commonwealth Games.
Mr President, while football clubs such as Asante Kotoko and Bibiani GoldStars have received $100,000 from government coffers simply for qualifying for CAF inter-club competitions, these boys — who wear Ghana’s colours on the world stage — have only had a Facebook post so far as their recognition.
These clubs have consistently received from the tax payer when going to Africa, but these athletes have had nothing have never stopped fighting for Ghana.
Forgive me if I am running ahead of you and your minister because I do not know your plans for them, but your Excellency, do they not deserve something, at least, for setting a national record or putting Ghana among the top four nations in the world?
You recall what you gave the Black Stars for finishing second in the 2015 AFCON in Equatorial Guinea? There was no gold, but they had a nice time with you.
Your Excellency, the athletes have been everywhere on their own. Sometimes, they pay to enter competitions just to be in shape for mother Ghana, but mother Ghana has never reciprocated same sacrifice.
The chronology of their highs, from Morocco to the World Relays in Silesia, where they held their own against the world’s best. In Doha 2019, where they gained valuable global experience, it culminated in a final finish at the Tokyo Olympics, where they reached the final, running 38.08s, the fastest time ever recorded by a Ghanaian quartet at the Games.
In Eugene 2022, they set yet another national record of 38.07s and reached the final of the World Championships.
The journey continued in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games, in Budapest at the World Championships (where, unfortunately, two members of the team got injured and Ghana had to pull out), and at the World Relays in the Bahamas.
They returned home for the Accra 2023 African Games, where they stood tall with a silver medal. And at the Paris Olympics 2024, they proved once more that Ghana’s red, gold, and green belongs among the world’s elite.
This year in Guangzhou at the World Relays, they punched their ticket to the World Championships, and now in Tokyo 2025, they have gone a step further — smashing the national record with 37.79s to qualify for the final.
At every single one of these championships, they have represented Ghana. They have raised our flag, sung our anthem, and fought for our pride. However, back home, they are treated as strangers. I wonder if they are seen at all.
Two names stand out in this journey — Joseph Paul Amoah and Benjamin Azamati. Since 2019, they have been the ever-present backbone of the relay team, balancing demanding individual careers with their commitment to the collective.
Both have tasted disappointment in their solo events, but in the relay, they have consistently given Ghana hope. For them, and for their teammates, this World Championships final could be the defining moment of redemption — not just for their careers, but for Ghana athletics.
And then there is Rose Yeboah, whose story deserves equal national reverence. From her days as a teenager, she has soared above expectations, literally and figuratively.
African University Games 2018 – Gold
African U20 Championships – Gold
ECOWAS Juniors 2019 – Gold
African Games 2019 – Gold
African Athletics Championships 2021 – Gold
African Games 2023 – Gold
World University Games 2023 – Gold (the first ever by a Ghanaian woman)
African Championships 2024 – Gold
She is Ghana’s national record holder in women’s high jump (1.97m), the first Ghanaian woman to qualify for the Olympics in her event, and in Tokyo 2025, she reached the World Championships final at her very first attempt with a jump of 1.92m.
Rose is not just a rising star — she is a medal hopeful, the kind of athlete any serious sporting nation would invest in, protect, and celebrate.
Mr President, I have seen your message on social media, congratulating our 4×100m relay team for finishing 4th at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. It was gracious, and I am sure the boys felt the warmth of your words. But, Mr President, they need more than a post.
What they deserve now is a handshake, an embrace, and a place at the seat of government. An invitation to Jubilee House would not only validate their sacrifices but also inspire the next generation of athletes.
Symbolic gestures of recognition go a long way. Your colleague from Botswana, Advocate Duma Gideon Boko, made time to watch Team Botswana from his hotel room in New York, where you are both attending the UN session, and even called the athletes via video to congratulate them. That single act electrified his nation.
Ghana did not win gold like Botswana did, but let me dare say this: in the last six years, these boys and Rose have carried our name farther — and without budget — than the Ghana Tourism Authority has managed with millions in budget.
From Rabat in 2019 to Tokyo today, they have written Ghana’s name on the global stage, breaking records, surviving disqualifications, enduring disappointments, and still coming back stronger.
Recognition, Mr President, is not just about medals. It is about telling these athletes — Joseph Paul Amoah, Benjamin Azamati, and their teammates — that their sweat and sacrifice mean something to Ghana. That when they stand on the world stage, they do not stand alone.
Do it for them, Mr President. Invite them. Honour them. Let them know that Ghana stands by them, just as they have stood by Ghana.
Because sometimes, the difference between silver and gold is not talent or training — it is the knowledge that your nation truly believes in you.
What they need now is more than applause. They need recognition, structured support, and investment. If Asante Kotoko and Bibiani GoldStars can receive financial backing for club football, surely Ghana’s finest athletes, who represent us at global championships, deserve the same.
Every second they run, every bar Rose clears, is in Ghana’s name. It is time Ghana, through its leadership, showed them that their sacrifices are not in vain.
Because the truth is simple: these athletes are Ghana’s best chance at sporting glory.
And they deserve to be celebrated as such.
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