Dan Kwaku Yeboah has argued Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, “has no coequal” in governance, economic management and sports achievements per tenure.
Appearing on Ayekoo Ayekoo hosted by Nana Romeo on Accra 100.5 FM, the Sports Journalist was asked which of Ghana’s government, past or present, has demonstrated utmost commitment to the advancement of sports.
“I’ll go for Kwame Nkrumah, straight away, no argument about that,” Dan Kwaku Yeboah readily answered. “It’s not even about football but sports [as an entire sector].”
The Peace FM star said Kwame Nkrumah’s tenure of … was marked by “two African Cup of Nations trophies – in fact, it took us [58] years to equal Nkrumah’s record in sports – we won two Olympic medals during his tenure as president”.
He stressed that after Nkrumah’s rule, “Ghana has only added three Olympic medals to its cache [after Nkrumah].
“The third one was [Samuel] Takyi’s from [President] Nana Addo’s time.”
He seemed unimpressed, stating: “Even that medal was achieved because the rules were relaxed a bit during COVID, when they said if you reach a certain stage, you’d be given a bronze.”
Considering how long it took to equal Nkrumah’s sports records, and since they have not been broken by any other president, Dan Kwaku Yeboah declared: “Nkrumah has no equal when it comes to sports and every facet of the economy. That’s my view about Nkrumah. I do not think, as the village headmaster once said, ‘He has no coequal’. His administration cut across.”
Underlining Nkrumah was president for 9 years, between Ghana’s independence of 1957 and 1966 when he was overthrown by coup, Yeboah emphasised the Pan-African leader’s integrity as unmatched, also.
“Nkrumah ruled Ghana at a time our population was about six million. Of the six million, about 99 per cent were illiterates. Meanwhile, he was a PhD holder. So, imagine, if he was a thief, he would have put Ghana’s wealth and resources into a will for his wife Fatia and their children. But when Nkrumah died, he did not have a place of his own that could be pointed to as his house. That alone makes him exceptional of all the politicians we’ve had,” he eulogised, decrying “modern-day politicians” who, in his opinion, tactfully take advantage of a relatively literate population.
Ghana’s five Olympic medals
Clement Quartey: During the 1960 Olympics Games in Rome, he won silver in the light welterweight (63.5kg) category.
Eddie Blay: At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, he won Ghana’s second medal, bronze, in the light welterweight (63.5kg) category in 1964.
Prince Amartey: Partaking in the Munich Summer Olympics of 1972, he received a bronze medal in the middleweight division (75 kg).
Black Satellites: With a bronze, Ghana’s national junior male football team became the first African team to win a medal at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games.
Samuel Takyi: The featherweight boxer took a bronze during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when he won a quarter-final bout.
Ghana’s four AFCON trophies
Ghana’s Black Stars, the senior male national football team, have won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) four times: in 1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982.
