FLASHBACK: Dr. Quartey exchanging pleasantries with Sarfo Abebrese at a meeting in 2018
The Coalition of Supporters’ Unions of Africa (COSUA), a civil society organisation which seeks to unite Africa through sports, has urged the Vice-Chairman of the African Union Commission (AUC), Dr. Kwesi Quartey, to abandon his retirement plans and run for the chairmanship next January.
Quartey, who won the votes of 45 of the 55 presidents of Africa, is reported to be planning to retire at the end of his current term at the AUC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In a letter dated May 15, 2020 and sighted by DAILY GUIDE SPORTS, COSUA, which signed a partnership agreement with the AU on April 5, 2008 under the auspices of Dr. Quartey, acknowledged his right to call it quits when the applause is loudest and take a well-deserved rest after an illustrious career spanning decades of par excellent service to Ghana and the African continent as a whole.
However, the letter signed by the founder of COSUA, Sarfo Abebrese; Dr. Ken Aryeetey, president of COSUA Ghana, and General Secretary Rev. Richard Amartey Adesah, who is the president of the Federation of African Amputee Football, urged Quartey to consider serving Africa for one more term, this time as chairman of the Commission.
“Our leadership across Africa is of the view that the current chairperson of the African Union Commission has demonstrated a lack of commitment to the tenets of African unity and pan-Africanism throughout his four-year reign, and a clear pointer to this is the manner in which he handled the dismissal of the former AU Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, at the behest of France.
“For those of us in COSUA Ghana, we will deem it a source of national pride and gratification for such an illustrious son of the land, Kwesi Quartey, to blaze the trail of global icons like Kwame Nkrumah, J.B. Danquah, Kofi Annan, et al by becoming the first Ghanaian to ever assume the chairmanship of the African Union Commission,” the letter copied to President Akufo-Addo stated.
It added, “If His Excellency accepted their plea to run, he can be assured of the support of COSUA leaders in over 40 countries of Africa who will publicly support your campaign in their respective countries and even lobby their governments from COSUA’s civil society bases in all those countries for your election.”
The Chairman of the Afrochampions Initiative, Olusegun Obasanjo, and his two deputies, H.E. Thabo Mbeki and Aliko Dangote, as well as Afrochampions Special Advisor, Dr. Edem Adjogenu, were also copied.