Tuesday, 25th March, 2025
Hon Damata Ama Appianimaa Salam
Afigya Kwabre South
I rise with pride and joy to congratulate our beloved Ghana Black Stars on their impressive victory against the Madagascar National Football Team nicknamed Les Barea translated as “The Brave”.
This triumph is a testament to the team’s resilience, skill, and unwavering determination to make Ghana proud on the international stage. The Black Stars have once again demonstrated the spirit of excellence that defines Ghanaian football. Their hard work, tactical discipline, and teamwork have brought glory to our nation and rekindled the hopes of millions of Ghanaians who passionately support them.
Mr Speaker, I commend the players, the technical team, and the Ghana Football Association for their dedication and commitment. This victory is not just a win on the pitch, but also a unifying force for our country, reminding us of what we can achieve when we come together with a common purpose.
Mr Speaker, the success of the Black Stars is not an overnight achievement, but the results of sustained investment, planning, and support from various stakeholders, including past and present administrations. I would like to recognise and commend the former Government for their contributions to Ghanaian football, including infrastructure development, youth talent nurturing, and strategic investment that have helped shape the team we celebrate today.
Mr Speaker, this victory is a reminder of what we can achieve when we work together beyond political divides. The Black Stars have once again united Ghanaians across all regions, religions, and political affiliations, providing that our collective support is the backbone of their success.
Mr Speaker, as we celebrate their success, I urge all Ghanaians to continue supporting the Black Stars in their future matches. Let us stand firmly behind them as they strive for even greater achievement in Africa and global football.
Mr Speaker, there is no stopping now. We are going to the World Cup and I know our boys will make us proud. Once again, congratulations to the Black Stars. Long live Ghana football. Long live Ghana. God bless our homeland, Ghana.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Eric Edem Agbana
Ketu North
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement in accordance with Order 93(5) of the Standing Orders of this House.
Mr Speaker, I commend the maker of the Statement for bringing this Statement to the House. However, while commending the maker of the Statement, I wish to extend my gratitude and congratulations to the entire Black Stars team and also to the Hon Minister for Sports and Recreation, Mr Kofi Iddie Adams, whose leadership has been commended across the board among the sports fraternity.
Mr Speaker, I am a football person and I have been in the football fraternity for at least 15 years now and sports people are of the view members of the sports fraternity — I have been in sports management, football management for at least 15 good years now. Mr Speaker, those of us within the sports fraternity are of the view that for the past 8 years, we have suddenly seen a certain positive environment within the sports sector because of the exemplary leadership of the Hon Minister for Sports and Recreation.
Mr Speaker, prior to our game against Chad, the President himself met the players, he was at their training; the Minister was there with them throughout; National Sports Authority (NSA) officials have been with them, and we can all conclude that because of the encouragement and the unwavering support from the Government of the day, today, the love is back and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) does not need to embark on a ‘love is back’ campaign any longer. We saw that as they won 5-0 against Chad and the 3-0 victory that they chalked far away in Morocco yesterday. Indeed, all of us can conclude that the real Black Stars is back; the reset Black Stars is back.
Indeed, Mr Speaker, due to the leadership of the Minister for Sports and Recreation, we are confident that Ghana will go to the World Cup. Regrettably, we lost out on the African Cup of Nations for 2025, and I believe that the Sports Minister will lead us to the World Cup so that Ghanaians will enjoy the beauty of the game.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity.
Hon John Darko
Suame
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity, and I thank the maker of the Statement, Ms Damata, the Hon Member of Parliament (MP) for Afigya-Kwabre South.
Mr Speaker, in fact, this is a very good Statement, and we thank the Black Stars for putting out all the energy to win the two games for us. We are happy when the Black Stars are winning. We are hoping that they will continue to win, and make us proud, so that we will all go to the World Cup.
Mr Speaker, on Friday, I happened to be at the stadium for the first time in so many years, and I made an observation, which I believe this House should take into consideration in subsequent meetings with the Ministry of Sports and Recreation.
Mr Speaker, on Friday, for the first time, I went to the VVIP section of the Accra Sports Stadium, and I was amazed that the VVIP section was so overbooked, so overcrowded, and Members who were sitting could not even see the stadium to watch the ball. And then, on the right side of the stadium from the VVIP section, a particular part of the stadium had been blocked for safety reasons. In the course of the match, a particular section was opened, and the place was filled up. In fact, it took an announcer at the stadium to warn the spectators not to lean on the metal rig-guards at the stadium.
Mr Speaker, we have known and seen the stadium disaster, the May 9th disaster and what it caused this nation, and so I am using this opportunity to appeal to the Ministry of Sports and Recreation, the GFA, and the officials in charge of the stadium to be wary of the way they issue tickets when we play football matches in this country, and the fact that they can actually oversell or-
Mr Speaker, I think it is very important that the officials in charge of our stadium do not continue to oversell tickets or allow more people than are supposed to be allowed into their stands. It is a very dangerous thing I observed on last Friday, and I believe that it should be taken up. On that, I thank the maker of the Statement again, and wish the Black Stars very well.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity.
Hon Nikyema Billa Alamzy
Chiana-Paga
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am sure because he was behind a pillar; he wanted to be fast, so I pardon him.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Football today is the biggest industry in the world, and my prayer is that as a country, we take advantage of it. I wish to congratulate the Black Stars and the whole of Ghana. For so long, we lost touch with our football. There was no love again, but as at last Saturday, the Black Stars gave us a massive victory, and the possession was even 57 against 38. It cannot be coincidence; I believe it stands to communicate something better to us. We won by five goals to nil.
Mr Speaker, in terms of football, Ghana has always been so good. I want to remind Ghana that around 1963, the Black Stars played a friendly match against Real Madrid, and we played 3-3. As at then, there was no team that could stand Real Madrid, but we were able to play 3-3 against Real Madrid. In 2010, we went to the World Cup; we qualified for the quarterfinals. We were a step away, just one penalty away, to reach the semifinals. It was rather unfortunate that one of our players kicked the ball away, and we have been told that he is a card-bearing member of our Brothers on the other Side and he was a leader of their campaign team— Yes,
Mr Speaker; I am mindful of it. It cannot generate into any debate because he was the leading member of the sports side for their campaign team. So, it cannot generate debate; it is a fact. Mr Speaker, what I can say is that if not for last Saturday, we lost touch with our football. We even lost qualification to be part of the 2025 African Cup, but we want to thank the current Minister for Sports and Recreation for bringing life back to our football.
Mr Speaker, I want to assure everybody that football cannot be played on any field. As at last year, we were told we would not be able to play football in any of our stadiums in Ghana. There was no stadium that was fit for purpose. But today, in our Budget, we stated that we are going to rehabilitate the following football stadiums: the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, Accra Sports Stadium, and Essipong Sports Stadium Phase 1 and 2. We are committed to making football unique again in Ghana.
Mr Speaker, with nothing more to say, I wish to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to comment on this Statement.
Hon Patrick Yaw Boamah
Okaikwei Central
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, let me commend the maker of the Statement, and to also put on record that we appreciate the performance of the Black Stars. We stood here about a week ago to tell them how the country feels hurt by their performance. We do not want to politicise our national team by making comments that will generate debates, but this is to put on record that the current Minister or the current management of our national football team inherited a team that was on top of the World Cup grouping. We can check the facts. He is saying no, but he should check. Number two, we asked them to, at least, win the next two matches which they did to garner the six points that we required of.
But, Mr Speaker, the Black Stars are ranked 75 on the FIFA ranking and that is not where we are supposed to be. If we know where we, as a country, want our national team to be, we want our national team to be at the levels that took us to the last eight in 2010. That is where we want our national team to be. We encourage them to play better and to be at the level that will gladden the hearts of Ghanaians.
Mr Speaker, Madagascar is ranked 116 out of 210 and Chad is ranked 176. This is just the preparatory steps towards the World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Watching the team, we still lack the creativity in our midfield and we still need some playmakers. Ghana football is used to playmakers and skillful players; we cannot find them in the team. They had to even drop Ernest Nuamah to play in that role and yesterday, he even started from the bench. So, we want our Black Stars to be, at least, at the level they were in 2010. That is what we are talking about. We wish the Black Stars the very best. We know that they will qualify for the World Cup and ensure that Ghana attains greater heights in football.
I thank you.
Hon Sampson Ahi
Bodi
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to add my voice in congratulating the Black Stars for their performance in the last two matches.
Mr Speaker, we all know that in this country, politics has divided us. The only thing that brings us together is football, and that is why we have to commend the Black Stars for bringing the football life again in this country.
Mr Speaker, I was particularly happy when I saw President John Dramani Mahama visit the team before the match with Chad Republic. And if we listen to the fatherly advice and the inspirational advice that President Mahama gave to the players, Mr Speaker, what we can only do is to say a big thank you to Mr President for that inspirational message he gave to the team which has resulted in scoring eight goals in two matches.
Mr Speaker, eight goals in two matches. He is comparing the rankings of Chad; what is the rank of Comoros? Madagascar came here to defeat us, so just commend where it is due.
Mr Speaker, we also want to commend the Minister for Sports and Recreation; it has been just two months. All that we need to do, including the Minority, is to pray for the Minister, so that God will grant him the enablement to steer the affairs of sports activities in this country.
Mr Speaker, I also want to commend the technical team for what they have done. We commend the Black Stars team highly and pray that they do well for us to qualify for next year’s World Cup, and I know by the grace of God and with the support of Government and the personal intervention by the President, the Black Stars is going to qualify for the 2026 World Cup that will happen in the United States of America (USA) and Mexico, so that Hon Patrick Yaw Boamah and others can go and On this note, I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Abena Osei-Asare
Atiwa East
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, I would like to congratulate my Colleague who made the Statement and to also congratulate the Black Stars for putting our hearts at ease with their 5-nil last week and with a 3-nil this week as well.
But, Mr Speaker, it is not just what we see. There are a lot of things that we do behind the scenes, so I expect that we do not just come here and sit, talk, encourage, and congratulate the President for a fatherly advice. They all have fathers, so I believe that before they left home, their fathers advised them. It is not the fatherly advice that the President gave that made them win that match, but I believe that it is something that they have been doing consistently. There was a consistent training, and the training did not start in two months; it started way back. So, we build teams, and we make sure they succeed.
Mr Speaker, my only concern is that we do not see a lot of our local players in there, and that is what we should look at. We do not see a lot of our local players, but here we are saying every day that adeɛ wↄ fie a, ɛyɛ. We should grow our own things; we should appreciate what we have at home, but we do not see our local players. Most of the time, it is the foreign players we call, yet we have teams: Kotoko, Samartex, and all those other teams which have very good players. So, we are calling on the National Sports Authority (NSA), Ghana Football Authority (GFA), and we are calling on the Minister for Sports and Recreation to make sure they do everything possible for us to see the local people in the Black Stars as well.
Mr Speaker, before I conclude, my Brother on the other Side mentioned the fact that they would renovate their stadiums, and they would do this and that. But when you look at the budget for the Ministry of Sports and Recreation, there is no CAPEX. It is zero CAPEX. So, where are they going to get that Capital Expenditure to make that or to do that renovation that he is talking about?
So, Mr Speaker, he should come again, or the Minister should tell us where he is going to get the money since there is nothing under CAPEX for the Ministry of Sports and Recreation. It is my hope that we will renovate all our stadiums and make sure we also encourage our young people to take up sports, not just the Black Stars, but all the other disciplines that are also very important. So, we should also spend money on them as well.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Hon Ampaabeng Kyeremeh Simon
Berekum East
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for indulging me to comment on the Statement by the Hon Member and also thank the Leadership for yielding to me.
Mr Speaker, we all remember about a month ago, H. E. John Dramani Mahama was in this House to deliver the Message on the State of the Nation. In that Message, he called on all Ghanaians to rally behind the Black Stars. He called on all stakeholders to put hands on deck to ensure that Ghana reclaims its lost glory in the international stage, and Black Stars have responded appropriately.
Mr Speaker, last Friday, Hon Patrick Yaw Boamah issued a battle cry to the Black Stars, and they have responded positively—Mr Speaker, Ghana has a chequered history in the World Cup tournament since our maiden edition in 2006—Thank you, Leader. We defeated Czech Republic, United States and only got eliminated by Brazil.
In 2010, Mr Speaker, Ghana made history by becoming one of the only three African countries to have reached quarter-final and was only denied a semifinal bet by the infamous hand of Luis Suárez. At this moment, Ghana is on the threshold of going to the United States, Canada and Mexico. Having won this double-header, annexing six points out of six, putting Ghana on the top spot with 15 points, the nearest country closest to Ghana is Madagascar, which is on 10 points. What that means is, with the remaining four matches, we have our own destiny in our hands. All that we need to do is to win three matches, and it does not matter what happens in other matches.
Mr Speaker, this is a clarion call on each Ghanaian that the need to qualify for United States, Canada and Mexico; socio-economically, that cannot be overemphasised, and for that matter, we should all rally behind the team. Before I take my seat, Mr Speaker, let me add my voice to what Hon Sampson Ahi said. It is very important to recognise the very important role H. E. John Dramani Mahama played in these wins—Mr Speaker, in 2024, we played a number of qualifiers.
Did we see President visiting the team at their trading sessions—This is the first time we have seen the President visit the team. Hon Speaker, I am guided. The presence of H. E. John Dramani Mahama at the Accra Sports Stadium prior to those matches contributed immensely to the results we saw in Accra and Morocco. Finally, Mr Speaker, those of us who were in the Accra Sports Stadium on Friday will testify that the Accra Sports Stadium has seen a massive facelift in the last few months.
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