According to the Director of Finance and Administration for the Ministry, Edwin Owusu– Mensah, Ghanaians should be inspired by the president’s initiative by wearing Ghanaian prints even to official events.

“We are hoping that in the near future, we won’t see people wearing any foreign clothes to work. We want people to wear Ghana…If the President himself wears it even to official functions, why should you say that because I’m going to an official function, I should wear a suit?”

Speaking at the Wear Ghana Fair, 2017, held at the Kwame Nkrumah Park in Accra on Saturday, Mr. Owusu–Mensah said government’s initiative has been largely embraced by Ghanaian women than men.

“We (Ghanaians) don’t wear made in Ghana goods enough. But I can say the women do better. They wear their African Prints a lot more often that the Men do.”

Also speaking at the fair, Executive Director, National Commission On Culture, Janet Edna Nyame, appealed to the manufacturers of Ghanaian prints to reduce the cost of their products in order to have majority of Ghanaians purchase them.

“We are appealing to the manufactures of the textile and prints to reduce the prices. Since they are in competition, if they are not able to reduce it, people may rush in for the cheaper ones which may not be the best. So if there are different ways they think they can produce at a lower cost, but still have the same quality, they should do that so that majority of Ghanaians can purchase their product” she said.

This approach, she says will generate more revenue and increase job creation in the industry.

Various Participants of the event, most of whom were Ghanaian designers and other African designers from South Africa and from Cote d’Ivoire, were also hopeful, that the Ministry’s initiative will promote the industry to their advantage.

Head of Sales for Nallem Clothing, one of the participating firms, Michael Koomson, said the fashion industry in Ghana has a lot to offer Ghanaians, hence initiatives like this only help push the industry to a higher height.

“This initiative will expand our industry and bring more people on board…we expect that it shouldn’t just end here, the average Ghanaian should know and be encouraged to wear made in Ghana Clothes.”

–

By Minna Dablu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The competence of Kwesi Appiah has been the subject of intense debate after he failed to guide the national beyond the group stages of the just ended World Cup in Brazil.

The Black Stars recorded their worst performance in three attempts at the World Cup and this has caused a number of sports pundits to question the coach’s tactical prowess after he made some questionable decisions in the matches against the United States and Portugal which left Ghana with just a point out of a possible nine.

According to Christopher Opoku, the failure of the Ghanaian FA to provide an avenue for the coach to broaden his knowledge on the game is an immediate cause of the team’s disastrous performance among issues on his leadership qualities.

“The coach does not only need training but capacity building as well and we have failed to give him that and the end result is what we see today,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the FA has mortgaged its future on him by giving him a two-year contract.

“The compensation will be huge and we have no choice but to stick with him, but I think that we have made a terrible mistake.

“I respect  and admire the man Kwesi Appiah a lot but i don’t think he is the right man to take us forward,” he added.

Kwesi Appiah himself has expressed optimism in the future of the Black Stars following his decision to agree a two-year extension and says the young players at his disposal represent a promising future ahead for the national team.

By: Benjamin Nketsia/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GFA will regret extending Kwesi Appiah’s contract – Christopher Opoku appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Black Stars crashed out of the 2014 World Cup in the first round after a problem-ridden campaign in Brazil after finishing bottom of their group with a single point from their three games.

However, the GFA announced that coach Kwesi Appiah would keep his job despite the team’s poor showing in Brazil.

Speaking to Citi Fm‘s Richard Sky on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, Christopher Opoku said that he did not believe Appiah was “the right man to take Ghana forward.”

Mr. Opoku believes Kwesi Appiah “has lost the dressing room” and expressed his surprise at the Ghana Football Association’s decision to retain Appiah as coach of the team.

He added that it was a “massive gamble” by the GFA to keep Kwesi Appiah in charge of the team because according to him, the decision to keep Kwesi Appiah in his position was not a unanimous one.

“There are some who think he’s not up to the job and  some who want him out,” Mr. Opoku said.

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Players have lost respect for Kwesi Appiah – Christopher Opoku appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Is it going to happen again?

Sources tell Citi Sports that the contract of Kwesi Appiah, the current coach, reportedly expires on July 18 this year.

Bigwigs in the football fraternity are chewing on the topic.

FA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi believes coach Kwesi Appiah has done more than enough to earn an extension.

“Kwesi Appiah has done very well to be the first indigenous coach to qualify the team to the World Cup. He just didn’t qualify us but he did it in grand style – smashing teams six, four and so on.

“But it is a decision that will be taken at the Executive Committee level but personally I have been very impressed by his work.”

Kwesi Appiah has won 58.3% of his games in all – competitive or otherwise – and his failure to beat any non-African teams in addition to not winning the 2013 African Cup are widely seen as blips.

“Do it before Brazil starts”

Former Ghana FA boss Ben Koufie also wants Kwesi Appiah’s contract to be renewed before the 2014 World Cup.

“Kwesi (Appiah) has done extremely well to deserve contract extension. There is no need to delay in renewing his mandate. In my view we should extend his contract before the World Cup.

“He needs to focus on the job and therefore we should not leave the matter of contract renewal hanging on his head. To qualify a country to the World Cup is no mean achievement. We need to impose confidence in him by giving him a new deal.”

The danger

These calls from Nyantakyi and Koufie are legitimate because with  three months to the end of the deal, Kwesi Appiah will have the freedom to begin talking with potential employers elsewhere should the FA not talk about renewal now.

But Citi Sports understands that the FA are planning to give him a new deal soon.

Public opinion

On Citi Sports’ African football show – done in collaboration with supersport.com –  that airs on Fridays, FC Africa, BBC journalist Michael Oti-Adjei and veteran journalist Christopher Opoku provided professional insight into the two year tenure of the coach.

The discussion was driven by the public’s views on social media.

@oluwashina @garyalsmith He failed to win Afcon 2013 by selecting poor players but he’s done well as native coach to take Ghana to WorldCup!

— coudjoe amankwaa (@coudjoeamankwaa) April 11, 2014

@garyalsmith his success is geting the stars to score more goals in a single game.Failure,team nt living up to expectations at the ACN in SA — Ebo Dadzie (@Ebo_dadzie) April 11, 2014

@garyalsmith Bad: hasn’t really made an effort to find a replacement for Gyan up front. Created a reliance on him. Agree with Maher’s also. — Säm Crocker (@Sam_Crock) April 11, 2014

@garyalsmith he has been under some element of luck though. but his tactics are questionable. and also failing to win #afcon is a bit failur

— Jermpapa Kabore (@Jermpopito) April 11, 2014

@garyalsmith I think his substitutions have been his weakness but qualifying us to the world cup is his success

— musah walbi zenabu (@zenabuwalbi) April 11, 2014

@garyalsmith Kwesi Appiah is a good coach but I fear for him when i comes to making bold decisions when Ghana is on the losing side — Stephen K. Assan (@pakashassan) April 11, 2014

YOU CAN LISTEN AGAIN OR DOWNLOAD THE SHOW AGAIN HERE:

By: Gary Al-Smith/Citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @garyalsmith

The post Debate: Should Kwesi Appiah’s contract be renewed before the World Cup? appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Listen or download

___

Show details

– Togo international Emmanuel Adebayor speaks to us exclusively about his Tottenham form (with Dotun Tenubi)

– We hear from Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah as he marks two years in charge (analysis with BBC’s Michael Oti-Adjei and Power FM’s Christopher Opoku)

–  Then we take an extensive look at Algeria’s preparations for Brazil 2014 (with Maher Mezahi). Plus the usual dose of ‘Africans Abroad’.

– And who is the winner of our Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini weekly quiz? You can win too! (click here)

___

Presented by Gary Al-Smith and produced by Nathan Quao/Gary Al-Smith for Citi FM & supersport.com. Aired: April 11, 2014.

**Soundtrack details**
Song Title: Someway Bi
Artist Name: M.anifest
Produced by: Yung Fly
Singitdamnit Music/Cumbancha Music Publishing (BMI) 2013

More detail: www.facebook.com/FCAfricaRadio

Follow @FcAfrica

The post FC Africa 6: Adebayor speaks, 2 years of Ghana’s Kwesi Appiah & Algeria unlocked appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The budget details for the Black Stars participation at the 2014 World Cup is a state secret, according to Ibrahim Sannie Daara.

The Director of Communications at the Ghana Football Association was reacting to the news broken by two media outlets, Citi FM and the Captivating Ghana Sports newspaper, that they had details of the breakdown of the budget for the tournament.

“As we speak now those figures speculated in the media have got no legs to stand on,” Sannie said in a debate on the state-owned Ghana  Television.

“I’d say with no equivocation that as I sit here as Director of Communications of the GFA, I’ve not seen the breakdown.”

“The Chief of Staff has said that this is a state secret and if someone brings it and if I am not able to authenticate it, I will say that person s carrying a false document.”

The former BBC journalist had been invited to GTV’s Sunday Night Live show hosted by Christopher Opoku and Karl Tufuoh.

Also invited were the Sports Editor of Peace FM, Dan Kweku Yeboah and Gary Al-Smith, Citi Sports’ editor.

Last week, Yeboah and Al-Smith released figures from documents they had intercepted which showed that, among other things, the  officials who make up the Black Stars management committee will get slightly more bonuses than the players themselves during the group stages of the World Cup.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL CITI SPORTS STORY ON WORLD BUDGET

“Show me the documents”

But even though Sannie admitted that he had not seen the budget breakdown, he insisted that what the two journalists were reporting were “concoctions”, going further to call Al-Smith a “liar” who uses lies as his “stock in trade.”

The FA spokesman challenged the two journalists to show him documents from the office of the Chief of Staff, which is – according to him – the only place the breakdown could have been leaked from.

“If anybody comes out with any breakdown, unless I see the documents as authentic from the Chief of Staff’s Office I will say that [whatever they have as a] document is a ruse,” Sannie said.

Sannie revealed that after meetings with the Chief of Staff, everyone present had been charged not to discuss the details of the budget, but quickly dismissed claims that the GFA do not want the public to know.

On his part, Dan Kweku Yeboah also contended that taxpayers’ money cannot be used for projects and be labelled state secrets, “unless they think there are things to hide from the people of Ghana.”

Citi Sports editor Al-Smith also pointed out that as a fundamental principle of journalism, he was under no obligation to disclose sources.

Al-Smith told the FA spokesman: “You’ve been a journalist for more than 15 years. Look at me very carefully, do I look like a journalist who will disclose my sources to you?”

A visibly angry Sannie charged: “How dare you talk to me like that?”

The program remained heated until  it had to be abruptly ended by the hosts.

When contacted, producers at GTV however told Citi Sports that the show was ended because it had overrun and not because of an order from senior management, as was widely speculated in the past few days.

WATCH VIDEO 

By: Citi Sports Desk

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