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THE power outage which occurred at the Essipon Stadium on Monday minutes before the commencement of the Mali-Benin encounter in the ongoing 26th MTN Africa Cup of Nations soccer fiesta was, to say the least, a national disgrace.
It was even more embarrassing when viewed against the backdrop that it occurred a little over 24 hours after the grand opening of the tournament at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium in Accra amid the superlative display of Ghanaian culture.
Indeed, so grand was the opening ceremony that it elicited raving commendations from the Presidents of FIFA, CAF and UEFA, Sepp Blatter, Alhaji Issa Hayatou and Michel Platini, as well as the African Union Commission President, Dr Alpha Konare.
We had hoped that after the opening ceremony and the first match between Ghana and Guinea, the tonic had been provided for the greatest soccer fiesta in the history of the Nations Cup.
But that was not to be, as barely 24 hours later, and at the newly built Essipon Sports Stadium, we had to deal with a lighting problem which threatened to undo all the years of preparations that had gone on ahead of the tournament.
Apart from the inconvenience caused to the two teams on the field of play and the spectators in the stands, the Essipon power outage also posed difficulties for television rights because companies which had the right to beam the match live got delayed, a situation which might have caused them a fortune.
Short of calling for heads to roll, the DAILY GRAPHIC calls on the government to look seriously into the matter and deal with all those whose acts of omission and commission may have caused that national embarrassment.
In a statement, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has dissociated itself from the incident, saying that its supply through the grid had been stable throughout the period, “as evidenced by the lighting around the stadium”.
Though we are yet to hear what the Local Organising Committee has to say on the matter, we feel there had been a lack of co-ordination and a serious communication gap. Or was it a matter of the necessary skills not having been put in place to deal with the challenges of a major tournament like this one?
Whatever it is, even before the full facts are made known, the DAILY GRAPHIC demands an apology from those whose duty it was to have provided uninterrupted power supply for the facility.
At this juncture, we can only hope that last Monday’s power outage has not already given us a bad press in the international media, since, so far, the generality of Ghanaians have demonstrated the best aspects of the legendary Ghanaian hospitality and conduct to ensure that our august visitors enjoy their stay here.
It is recalled that during the 1978 Nations Cup in Ghana, a similar thing happened, but we still think last Monday’s occurrence is still unpardonable because we have come a long way in technological development to have this happen in 2008.
We also refuse to accept that this is Africa and so anything can happen here. We don’t want Africa to be associated with only negative occurrences because we know that the best of our brains are competing on an equal footing, if not above, in international circles.
What happened at Essipon last Monday was really an anti-climax to what had otherwise started well and we think it should never rear its head again as the tournament progresses and generates more passion and interest.
We also caution that since the interest to be generated in the days ahead is bound to put more pressure on facilities, contingency measures must be put in place to contain that pressure, so that we are not caught unawares.