We visited John Mahama because we never had the chance to meet Akufo-Addo

Captain of Ghana’s Amputee Football Team, Richard Arthur Openti, has explained that the reason the team visited former President John Dramani Mahama was that they were never given the chance to meet President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The Black Challenge, who won their second consecutive African Amputee Football Cup of Nations (AAFCON) title in Egypt, had wanted to present the trophy to the President of the Republic of Ghana.

Richard Openti disclosed that despite efforts to get the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Authority to arrange a meeting with Nana Akufo-Addo, it proved futile.

“I won’t say anything about what the Minister said; I will leave it to Ghanaians to judge. As disabled people, we don’t beg; we do our best with our condition. We use our own contributions to play for our nation. The first one we won, we were not given the opportunity to meet the President or present the trophy to him.”

According to him, they never got the attention of the Sports Ministry until they met the former president, who made a cash donation to the team.

“We kept asking for an opportunity to present the trophy to the Minister and the President, but we never got it until we met the Ex-President, which prompted them to call us. This is sad because our colleagues from other countries are handsomely rewarded for winning tournaments, but we go through this for our nation,” said Openti.

The statement from Openti comes after the Sports Minister, Mustapha Ussif, bemoaned the team’s decision to visit the former president.

The minister expressed his disapproval of the team’s decision to accept $10,000 from John Mahama, who is running for the presidency under the New Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2024 general elections.

JNA/NOQ