16 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556
Monday 18 June 2018
In Association With
Filthy football
Of 100 African football officials offered cash, only three declined
Why fans in Ghana are jaded
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FOR shopping,” says a man, laying $ 65,000 on a table.“ Thank you,” says Kwesi Nyantakyi, the president of the Ghana Football Association, scooping it into a plastic bag. The bribe was a set-up, secretly filmed for a documentary by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, an undercover journalist. So was a sponsorship deal which Mr Nyantakyi appears to negotiate, taking a cut through his own private company. The film-makers offered money to more than 100 mostly west African football officials, including a Kenyan referee due to officiate at this month’ s World Cup. Only three declined.
The revelations have thrown Ghanaian football into turmoil. Mr Nyantakyi, who denies wrongdoing, has resigned. Domestic matches have been suspended indefinitely. On June 7th the government said it would dissolve the football association. It has been badly and crookedly managed for decades, which is why Ghana, a football-mad
The war on conception
In Tanzania, getting impregnated also means getting expelled from school
President John Magufuli thinks the answer to teenage pregnancies is less education
MARY( not her real name) was 16 when she became pregnant. The father sold chips by the road near her home in northern Tanzania. She felt special when he gave her money. But when her belly swelled, he ran off. At school she was caned in front of teachers, pupils and her own shamefaced parents. Then she was expelled.“ I would not have had sex”, she says,“ if I knew you could get pregnant after doing it once.”
A quarter of Tanzanian girls aged 15-19 are pregnant or have given birth. The government’ s response is to kick them out of school for good. Official statistics record that between 2003 and 2011, more than 55,000 girls dropped out because of pregnancy. This is surely a vast underestimate; cases are often recorded as simple truancy. The main way back into education is through vocational training or at a fee-paying school, which most cannot afford. This policy is reinforced by compulsory pregnancy tests. Teachers pull girls out of class to give a urine sample or, more often, to be squeezed and prodded in the abdomen.
None of this is explicitly required by law. Vague rules say a student may be expelled for an“ offence against morality”. In recent years the tone had been changing. Last year the education ministry presented draft guidelines for pregnant girls to re-enter school. The ruling-party manifesto said that those in primary
country, has a league that no one wants to watch.
In the 1970s fans would hang from floodlights, recalls Sam Suppey, then a goalkeeper for Accra Hearts of Oak, one of Ghana’ s biggest clubs. Now many teams play in near-empty grounds. In January an official in Kumasi suggested that the city’ s stadium could make more money from funerals than football.
Erratic scheduling is a problem. The current season started late because one team was fighting its relegation in court. The exodus of stars is another.“ A player shows up for just a season,” says Nana Darkwa Gyasi, a pundit. The best leave for Europe, but many go to rival African leagues, where big clubs such as TP Mazembe in Congo pay higher wages.
Ghanaians crowd into halls to watch European matches on television. As a child, Sylvester Ali would run from school to watch his local team. These days he follows Arsenal instead.“ I’ d prefer to sit here, have a bottle
school should continue their studies.
But then John Magufuli, the president, made his views known.“ After getting pregnant, you are done,” he thundered last year. Halima Mdee, a lawmaker who criticised Mr Magufuli’ s stance, was arrested and charged with insulting the president.
In the past, says one teacher, sympathetic schools could quietly readmit girls after they had given birth. But none dares do so now. An official in one district called for the arrest of pregnant schoolgirls,
of Coke, and watch good-quality football on a clear screen,” he says, sitting in a bar in Accra. He hasn’ t been to a stadium for about 20 years.
Still, there is a kickabout on
to“ serve as a lesson to the rest”. Five were apprehended by police.
Punishment does not seem to reduce teenage pregnancy. The rate is higher than in neighbouring Kenya, which allows mothers to return to class. It is highest of all in poor, rural areas, where contraception is scarce and sex may pay for better grades or a motorbike ride to school. A government survey found that 11 % of 15- to 19-year-old girls had experienced sexual violence. One activist, too nervous to be named, recalls how every corner. Mark Noonan, the American chief executive of Hearts, says football in Ghana is like cocoa or gold:“ It’ s one of their national treasures.” For the faithful few, passion is unshe was expelled after being raped at 14. Girls get the blame for pregnancy, she says, rather than men and boys.
Although Tanzania’ s approach is unusual, it is not unique. Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea also expel pregnant girls, notes a report published by Human Rights Watch, a pressure group. Laws elsewhere in Africa vary widely. In Malawi pregnant girls are suspended for 12 months, but then allowed to return in the following academic year, subject to some tedious paperwork. dimmed. Fans serenaded their team bus through the streets after a recent win against Asante Kotoko, their great rivals.“ Never say die”, runs their motto,“ until the bones are rotten.”
In Senegal they are readmitted with a certificate saying they are healthy. A handful of places, including Rwanda and Gabon, encourage mothers to continue their studies. In 24 countries there is no clear policy, leaving girls’ fates to the whims of local officials.
For many girls, getting pregnant is the end of their dreams. Some risk backstreet abortions. Others get married. Many end up as maids; a few, as prostitutes. Mary now scrubs pots and pans for a living.“ I would go back to school,” she says, wistfully,“ if I got the chance.”