Kudjoe Fianoo
Ever heard the word “zombie”? I’m sure you have, considering the fact that it dominated the airwaves last week.
In case you haven’t, the man who popularized the word last week was Kudjoe Fianoo of Ashgold fame and currently the GHALCA Chairman. He wondered why many of the “football people” were acting like zombies. He likened the current system being run by the Kwesi Nyatankyi-led FA to a “zombie system”, being controlled by one man.
Abusuapanin, how he angered the so-called football people! Some lamented privately, while others could not hide their anger. The latter expressed their anger on radio and even impressed upon him to render an unqualified apology.
The hue and cry sent me looking for my dictionary. It was not as if I didn’t know the meaning of the word. I simply wanted to make assurance double sure.
Zombie has varied meanings. But the meaning that fits the context under discussion states, “Someone who moves around as if unconscious and being controlled by someone else. A person without a mind of his own.”
Looking carefully at the meaning, I doubt if anyone can say Mr. Fianoo’s description of the FA was wrong. This is an association that went for a consultative meeting only for it to metamorphose into congress with no one blinking. Tell me this is not zombie-like, and I would tell you Donald Trump is a Muslim.
Trust Lawyer Kwesi Nyantakyi not to allow a heavy punch from Mr. Fianoo to go without a reply. He described Mr. Fianoo as a person with “small mind”. He cited Eleanor Roosevelt’s “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events and small minds discuss people” to buttress his point.
In the meantime, the Wonder Club, Accra Great Olympics, has put a second injunction on the country’s premier league- crippling all clubs in the process. I’m told many of the clubs are lamenting privately and blaming it on the incompetence of the Nyantakyi-led administration. But they lack the guts to say so publicly. A trait of a zombie, isn’t it?
Is it not baffling that a protest made since October last year by the Wonder Club is yet to be ruled upon? How then can the FA sanction the start of another premier league season when there are issues outstanding in relation to the previous year’s competition?
For sure, anyone blaming the wonder club is either being unfair or does not want to call a spade by its real name. How can you blame the Wonder Club for seeking justice? It is obvious that Olympics have learnt from the woes of Kumasi-based King Faisal.
I’ve known Senior Kwesi Nyantakyi since my secondary school days. He was my senior in Wa Secondary School. We both did our National Service in the Eastern Region in the same year, 1994. He was then doing his graduate service, while I was doing my sixth form service. I was even a member of his campaign team when he contested the position of NASPA President.
I’ve since stood by him through thick and thin. I’ve had the occasion to defend him in this very column. After the 2014 World Cup fiasco, I was among the few that defended him when the call for him to resign was loudest. I’ve always defended him, not because he was my senior, but because I believed in his abilities.
Truth be told, Senior Kwesi has lost the magic wand that made him the darling boy of all and sundry. He has lost the Midas touch that turned everything into gold. I, therefore, add mine to the voices calling on him to take a bow.
I laugh anytime I hear people calling him arrogant. Senior Kwesi is anything but arrogant. It is the cowardice of the so-called football people that make him look like a demi-god. Why then do we blame Senior Kwesi for other people’s zombie-like character?
As for Mr. Fianoo, I cannot help but pat him on the back for hitting the nail right on the head. He has said the unspoken truth. His bravery must be commended.
But all actions have their consequences, whether positive or negative. The consequence of his bravery is that he has lost the little opportunity left for him to win the FA presidency in 2019. Nobody wants to be called a zombie, even if it is the palpable truth. So the football people will relish teaching him a bitter lesson if he contests the FA Presidency in 2019. I wouldn’t give them that pleasure if I were in his shoes!
While we eagerly await an amicable settlement between the FA and the Wonder Club, and the subsequent start of the premier league, I leave you with Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s “Zombie”:
Zombie o, zombie
Zombie o, zombie
Zombie no go go, unless you tell am to go (zombie)
Zombie no go stop, unless you tell am to stop (zombie)
Zombie no go turn, unless you tell am to turn (zombie)
Zombie no go think, unless you tell am to think (zombie)
Zombie o, zombie
Zombie o, zombie ………………
Continue to sing if you know the lyrics; and see you next week for another interesting konkonsa, Deo volente!