A nation that does not honour its heroes, the English would tell you, is not worth dying for. That is why The Chronicle is disappointed with the threat which has been actualised with the appearance of the sign \u2018Accra Sports Stadium\u2019 to replace the Ohene Djan Stadium.<\/p>\n
We are told that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) passed a resolution to change the name of the nation\u2019s leading arena for sporting performances. According to the Chief Executive of the assembly, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, the assembly has the sole right for giving names to national monuments in the national capital.<\/p>\n
We remember though, that when the Independence Square was changed from Black Star Square, after one of the military adventures of the past, there was no involvement of the assembly. We are also aware of the noises being made by the Ga-lobby in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for a name change, on the premise that Ohene Djan was not a Ga.<\/p>\n
Ohene Djan was indeed, not a Ga. He was not an Ashanti either, as some xenophobic elements in the NDC Ga-lobby would want us to believe. What informed the decision to name the stadium after Ohene Djan was neither tribal nor political.<\/p>\n
He was honoured for his contribution to sports development as an administrator, which has never been surpassed since the coup d\u2019etat of February 1966.<\/p>\n
A little bit of information on how the stadium came to be named after him would not be out of place.<\/p>\n
In the year 2003, football, as an organised sport, was 100 years old in Ghana. To commemorate the occasion, a number of committees were appointed by the late Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu (May his soul rest in peace), who was Minister of Education, Science and Sports. One of the committees, the Heroes Committee, was charged with identifying Ghanaian sports heroes for honour.<\/p>\n
The committee made several recommendations, among which was to name national sporting arenas after leading sporting heroes of our time.<\/p>\n
The committee recommended that the Accra Sports Stadium be named after Ohene Djan, Kumasi Stadium after Baba Yara, while the Cape Coast Stadium was named after the late Robert Mensah, one-time Africa\u2019s Number One Goalkeeper.<\/p>\n
In the same vein, the National Sports College at Winneba was named after C.K. Gyamfi, the first indigenous coach of the Black Stars, who led the national team to win three African Cup of Nations titles.<\/p>\n
The Kaneshie Sports Complex was named after Azumah Nelson, the nation\u2019s most accomplished boxer.<\/p>\n
After receiving the recommendations, the Minister took the issue to Cabinet, which approved the changes and were accordingly instituted. It was not as if the Minister sat somewhere and named the national stadium after any Ashanti leader.<\/p>\n
The Chronicle is disappointed at the tribal and political twists the decision to honour our sporting heroes has been taken by some elements within the Atta Mills administration and the AMA.<\/p>\n
It is a shame that at a time the AMA could not even remove rubbish from our streets, and had succeeded in turning Accra into a cholera zone, a name change of the national arena has become the assembly\u2019s priority.<\/p>\n
In the Bible, we are told that there came a new Pharaoh who knew not Joseph. We are inclined to believe that there will come a time in our lives, when it would be possible to honour our heroes.<\/p>\n
Ohene Djan stadium, we believe, will come back. Let Alfred Oko Vanderpuije and his assembly concentrate on moving rubbish from the city centre. We cannot build a Millennium City on filth and political and tribal bias.<\/p>\n
Credit: Ghanaian Chronicle<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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