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Ishmael Mensah Blog of Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Source: Ishmael Mensah
Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, the former minister of youth and sports, has maintained that former president Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo is not as worthy of statues and monuments as Ghana’s boxing legends.
Speaking during a memorial session for the late Clement Ike Quartey, Nii Lantey was on the floor of Parliament.
“All of these people passed away without any significant notice, but this august house honoured them with a statement that said nothing at all, but by now, we ought to have monuments to honour the future generations of Ike Quartey Sr., Eddie Blay, Prince Amartey, and others’ exploits.”
A statue dedicated to President Akufo-Addo was inaugurated last month at the Effia Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region on an unfinished roundabout.
The president’s decision to honour himself with the statue was prompted by extensive criticism, of which the Member of Parliament’s speech is the most recent.
He added, “And I’d be happy if we had Eddie Blay’s statue at the Effia-Nkwanta roundabout in place of the President’s statue to tell people from the Western Region that it’s not just Ekow Krane who showed wonders in boxing but that there was once an Eddie Blay.
It’s important because these are the things that will make people to be inspired and motivated to also achieve something.” Nii Lantey has long supported recognizing Ghanaian athletes, particularly boxers, both past and current.
He brought up former boxer Eddie Blay, who won gold twice at the Commonwealth Games in Kingston in 1966 and Perth in 1962. In Tokyo in 1964, he also took home the bronze. He was born in 1937 and died in 2006.
The other legend on the list, Prince Amartey, competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and won a bronze medal in the middleweight class. In the past, he shared the podium with Marvin Johnson of the USA. He participated in the light middleweight division at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
