“Local Accountability Network” group in Techiman unhappy with Municipal Assembly projects after monitoring
As part of efforts to ensure that Public Offices are held accountable to their responsibilities, Civil Society Organizations like the Ghana Anti Corruption Coalition (GACC) in collaboration with Local Accountability Network (LANet) -Techiman since last year has been monitoring public contracts and projects in the health and education sectors undertaken by the Techiman Municipal Assembly.
Interacting with Project Coordinator Mr. Mustapha Yeboah who is also CEO of Center for Posterity Interest Organisation (COPIO) in Techiman during a meeting with Stakeholders to present their monitoring report for the 1st quarter (April –June 2021), he disclosed that ten (10) LANet members in Techiman were selected to engage the Municipal Procurement officer, interact and interview stakeholders, and visited the beneficiary communities to verify the projects.
“Local Accountability Network” group in Techiman unhappy with Municipal Assembly projects after monitoring
He revealed that though the Civil Society Organizations through their findings were unhappy with the performance of the Techiman Municipal Assembly in areas of public participation, efficiency, value for money and competition in public contracting, there is still room for improvement.
Mr. Mustapha Yeboah, Project Coordinator and CEO of COPIO
“Local Accountability Network” group in Techiman unhappy with Municipal Assembly projects after monitoring
For her part, the Project Officer Mrs. Faustina Djabatey said there is the need for an improvement in project supervision by the local authorities and pleaded with the Techiman Municipal assembly to consider the recommendations in the report in order to improve delivery of health and education infrastructure services.
We should all invest in girl child education and community development – acting Zongo chief
The acting Zongo chief for the Zongo community in New Edubiase in the Adansi South district of the Ashanti Region Nana Abdulai Baaba(Allahday) has expressed his outmost view and advice to Nongovernmental Organisations, philanthropists, Muslim leaders, and the entire Muslim community is to focus and invest in girl child education.
According to him, most of the girls in our communities face a lot of challenges with regard to formal education, although they are very brilliant and can fit into any formal sector when given them the right opportunities.
Also, he added that Muslim communities should help with recruitment of Arabic teachers in our various schools to enhance the teaching and learning of arabic.
He continued that, we should all gear up in providing portable drinking water to rural communities for water is essential for the survival of humans and other co habitants to help solve the struggle for water issues rampant everywhere.
Finally, Nana Abdulai Baaba urged the general public to come together to help improve our Human Resources and involve females in our daily activities.
The 1992 Constitution Must be Amended to Suit Ghanaians- Political Analyst
Mr. Samuel Boateng, a political analyst has described the Ghana 1992 republican constitution as a noncurrent one which needs to be amended to suit the constitutional demands of the citizens.
Mr. Samuel Boateng said that the authors of the 1992 constitution generated massive recognition for the political heads rather than the ordinary citizens in the course of developing the constitution which he said is affecting the demands of the people in the country.
He stressed that, a lot of articles in the 1992 constitution favours the leaders of the country’s political parties whiles the ordinary citizens suffers from the same constitution.
THE 1992 CONSTITUTION.dikoder.com
He further stated that, article 17 (1 & 2) of the 1992 constitution states that, All persons shall be equal before the law. A person shall not be discriminated against on grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic origin, religion, creed or social or economic status hence the constitution must be favourable to all the peoples of the country.
He added that, the clause in the same constitution which gives president of the republic to move around within10years after his presidential term before he could be prosecuted against wrong doings is a great misinterpretation against the article 17 (1 and 2.)
He explained that, the article 17 of the constitution clearly means all individuals in the country must have same treatment and such must be respected.
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, is currently on a two-week leave to enable him to attend to some personal issues.
According to Dikoder.com sources, The Minister of Health started the leave last week due to the permission granted to him by the Chief of Staff, Madam Akosua Frema Osei- Opare.
Kwaku Agyeman-Manu
There have been rumours that Mr. Agyeman-Manu had resigned, sources have denied this, saying he had only taken leave.
This comes after several letters from the Health Ministry were made public following the release of the report by the Parliamentary Committee, which investigated the botched Sputnik V vaccine contract.
Agyeman-Manu must go
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on Mr. Agyeman-Manu to resign following revelations in the report of the Parliamentary Committee that probed the Sputnik V vaccine contract.
Lionel Messi change unchangeable rules in french Ligue 1
n French Ligue 1, The number 1, 16, and 30 are strictly reserved for goalkeepers for decades.
Messi’s appearance in French Ligue 1 has made it possible for French Ligue to accept him to take the number 30.
Lionel Messi who was expected by the footballing world to take the number 10 from Neymar, his former team mate, surprised the footballing world this time.
Neymar Jr. with much respect for Messi who wear the iconic number 10 at PSG though lay down the number for his best friend and former team mate Messi to wear the icon number at PSG since that is Messi’s number at his former team Barcelona and national Argentina, but Messi refused to take the number 10 from his best friend and former team and rather chose to wear one of his youthful numbers like 15, 18, 30 and 19.
But the footballing world hearing the story of Messi refusing to take the number 10 from his best friend, came to conclusion that he will definitely take the number 19 since that was one of his magic number among his youthful numbers at Barcelona.
Messi during his contract signing for PSG yesterday, selected the number 30 above all his youthful numbers at PSG. So is now confirmed that the greatest no.10 will don the number 30 at Paris Saint Germain.
In my deepest and final analysis, I came to realise that Messi first don the number 30 at Barca before the 19 and later settled in the icon no.10 at Barcelona when Ronaldinho left in 2008 to AC Milan and that is exactly how Messi want to start for Paris Stain Germain just like he started at Barca. Messi will play his first match for Paris Saint Germain coming August 15, 202 at home for PSG against Strasbourg at Le Parc Des Princes.
• Elizabeth Akua Ohene has received a government appointment • She is now the board chair of SSNIT • She takes over from Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor
Madam Elizabeth Akua Ohene, a former journalist and minister of state under the John Agyekum Kufuor administration has been appointed as the chairperson of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) board of trustees.
According to an Asaase Radio report, Madam Ohene takes over from Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, who served as the board chairman of SSNIT between 2017 and January 2021.
Elizabeth Ohene once served as President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s speechwriter, and pior to the December 2020 elections, she was also part of President Akufo-Addo’s campaign team.
Elizabeth Ohene in the course of her work at SSNIT, is expected to partner the management of SSNIT to pursue the vision of the Trust which is to be the model for the administration of Social Protection Schemes in Africa and beyond, “which would eventually lead to the provision of income security for workers in Ghana through excellent business practices.”
The report further indicated that, how to improve the core function of SSNIT which are to register employers and workers, collect contributions, manage records on members, invest the funds of the Scheme and process and pay benefits to eligible members and nominated dependants, would also certainly engage the efforts of the board chair and the management team of SSNIT.
Elizabeth Ohene joins a list of prominent personalities who have received appointments under Akufo-Addo’s presidency.
About SSNIT
SSNIT was established in 1972 under NRCD 127 to administer the National Social Security Scheme. Prior to 1972, the Scheme was administered jointly by the then Department of Pensions and the State Insurance Corporation. The Trust administered the Social Security Scheme as a Provident Fund Scheme until 1991 when it was converted to a Social Insurance Pension Scheme then governed by the PNDC law 247.
The scheme in Ghana was reformed by an Act of Parliament, Act 766 of 2008 and was implemented in January 2010 to replace all pension schemes in Ghana including Cap 30. In 2014, the National Pensions (Amendment) Act 883 was passed to amend portions of Act 766.
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) is a statutory public Trust charged under the National Pensions Act, 2008 Act 766 with the administration of Ghana’s Basic National Social Security Scheme.
Its mandate is to cater for the First Tier of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme. The Trust is currently the largest non-bank financial institution in Ghana.
The primary responsibility of the Trust is to replace part of the lost income of workers in Ghana due to Old Age, Invalidity or Death of a member where dependents receive lump sum payment.
It is also responsible for the payment of Emigration benefits to a non-Ghanaian member who is leaving Ghana permanently.
The Pension Scheme as administered by SSNIT has an active membership of over 1.6 million as of January 2021 with over 226,000 pensioners who regularly receive their monthly pensions from SSNIT.
Miss Elizabeth Akua Ohene was born on 24th January 1945, and attended Mawuli School at Ho, between 1958 and 1964. She gained admission to the University of Ghana in 1964 and graduated with B. A. (Hon) English in 1967.
The former Minister of State, also attended the University of Indiana, Bloomington, Ind. U.S.A. where she obtained a Mass Communication Certificate. The US State Department sponsored her to undertake a course involving travel around the USA and had also work experience from newspapers in three States in 1971.
She was a Press Fellow from January to June 1983 at Wolfswon College, the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Miss Elizabeth Ohene’s professional experience between 1967 and 1982 in Graphic Corporation saw her as a Reporter, Staff Writer, Columnist, Leader Writer, and Acting Editor of the Daily Graphic and Mirror. She also had the opportunity to serve as a Member of a Board of Directors of the Corporation.
In 1986, she solely founded the Talking Drum Publications and until 1986, she was the Publisher/Editor of the publications, a weekly news magazine on West African Affairs. She also worked for BBC World Service, London, UK.
Madam Ohene had worked with the BBC as a Producer of Radio Programmes, then successively became a Presenter, Senior Producer on World Service and British Domestic Radio, Researcher and Columnist on the Focus on African Magazine and Deputy Editor in the African Service for English Daily Programmes, and in charge of the operational budget.
Miss Elizabeth Ohene also edited the award-winning of Focus on Africa Programme. She also reported regularly for the BBC from various parts of Africa and was the resident correspondent in South Africa from 1993 to 1994 during the transition from apartheid to the first democratic elections.
The former Minister has conducted a lot of training programmes for journalists for the BBC in South Africa, Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. She also ran a network of more than 150 stringers located in all parts of Africa for the BBC Africa Service and also supervised their editorial work and kept their equipment and training needs to be updated.
Miss Ohene’s professional activities include being a member of the International Women Media Foundation which actively promotes women’s competency and leadership in the media. The foundation has established an Africa Women’s Media Centre in Dakar, Senegal, where courses are run for African women in the Media according to their needs.
To date, the Minister has been a Board member of the International Commission of Investigative Journalists which coordinates major investigations of stories around the world. Since 1997, she has served as a Member of the CNN Africa Journalist of the Year Competition.
WASA AMENFI EAST MCE ASSAULTED ASONA FM JOURNALIST WHEN DOING A LIVE RADIO REPORT OVER ALLEGED GALAMSEY ISSUE
The MCE for Wasa Amenfi East Municipal,Hon Ama Appiah has assaulted a journalist of Asona Fm,a local radio station based in Wasa Akropong in the Amenfi East Municipal of the Western Region. Aseda Louisa,a young female journalist, who was assigned to cover a demonstration organised by Wasa Nkakaa community against the traditional leaders of Wasa Akropong over land which they believed had been sold by the Nananom of Wasa Akropong to chinise, Nationals for mining activities, was assaulted while her phone was also forcely seized by the MCE when doing a live radio report.
A Chain Saw Operator, Mr. Kwame Kaya has been shot dead at Numreso in the Amansie Central of the Ashanti Region.
According to an eyewitness, Kwame Darkwah, the deceased was hired by the community authorities to cut down wood logs for their toilet.
Unknowingly to Kwame Kaya (deceased), the concession in which he was to cut the logs was owed by one Businessman. Some youth wielding guns believe to be affiliated with the businessman, accosted the deceased in the forest.
Amerado, Obibini set social media ablaze with diss tracks
For lovers of rap music in Ghana, this moment is another one to savour as two of the country’s highly-rated rappers are having a go at each other in back-to-back diss tracks.
Rappers Amerado and Obibini have since last night entertained their fans as they battle for supremacy.
The lyrical beef was triggered by a word in Amerado’s widely commended flow on the Tim Westwood which Obibini perceives to be a jab at him.
Despite Amerado’s clarification that Obibini was not the target of his verse, Obibini entered the recording booth last night and produced a diss track titled ‘Deceased’.
The Zylofone signee in this track belittles Amerado’s lyrical prowess and condemns his career which he claims to have buried.
I was not part of the Fix the country demonstration- Maame Akua Donkor urged
I was not part of the Fix the country demonstration- Maame Akua Donkor urged
Founder and leader of Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) Maame Akua Donkor said, there is a rumor circulating on social media that, she was part of the Fix the country demonstration.
SEE ALSO: Supreme Court Judge Marful-Sau dies Speaking to Maame Akua Donkor on Edubiaseman fm this morning, she said Nana Addo is doing his best as a Government and what else should the government fix.
She pleaded with all media houses to reject any false information.
PARTISAN POLITICS, COVER UPS, CORRUPTION, TRIBALISM, INDISCIPLINE, AND CO ARE GHANA’S REAL ENEMIES OF PROGRESS.
The truth must be told. The LORD GOD has really blessed us with every natural resources we need as a country. It seems we have taken all these privileges for granted. Religiously there is peace, harmony, and understanding among the religious beliefs in the country.
The question is that why can’t Ghana turn to become a first-class Nation?
I have a problem about how we elect our president and vice mostly on religious background.
I am of the view that if we can have a patriotic and competent president and vice from one religion, there is no need to mixed the president and vice based on religious background.
It looks like we have abused the time needed to achieve’s certain developments on record time with bad attitudes.
We don’t take our works seriously especially some of the workers in the public sector, some of the them don’t thinks about how to progress the work , but what some of them are interested in is how to satisfy’s their stomach and pocket.
Cover-up is another Epidemic of the enemies of progress in Ghana. Most of the leaders needs those who can dance to their music to work with so that I snatch your back and you snatch my back game will be outplayed to the gallery. When sometimes you overheard a certain leader glamouring against someone, not interested to work with someone,is simply because he can’t create, loot, and share with the person.
When a certain leaders see those working with him to be a threat for him, he will do anything humanly possible, to sabotage them.
No leader want to be exposed. They always want those who can do cover-ups for them to work with. So that their cobwebs and skeletons will be hidden, from the public.
Partisan politics always hijacked the truth to be seen and known. The political parties communicators will always defend the indefensible. Even when their parties are wrong, they will still defend the party. Because of political appointment, none of the parties members wants to criticize’s and condemn’s his or her own party for wrongful doing, bad actions, and unneedful policies.
Apart from Honourable Kennedy Ohene Agyapong the legislature a member of parliament for Assin central who sometimes fires his own party, when he disagrees with them. Some also says when he needs certain contracts from his party, then he will deliberately criticize them, for he is very loud and has the media power and influence.
Corruption is bleeding and sinking the country into an abyss. Looking at the over-pricing of certain government contracts will make you cry for mother Ghana. The mindset of some people is if you don’t become corrupt you can’t make it or be successful in life. This is why corruption galon is everywhere. Monies that can be used for state development goes to a corrupt people’s pocket. Corruption is milking the country and it is very sad and pathetic.It clearly shows that we don’t have any love for the country and also don’t think about the future of the country which belongs to the next generation.
The way some are chopping corruption monies today as if the is no tomorrow for the country. Until we have an independent anti-corruption body to fight vigorously against corrupt practices in the country, it will always stampies the social-economic, and developmental growth in the country. Another failing gears and break fails that disappoint the fight against corruption is the anti-corruption crusaders, most of them are corrupt than the corruption machinery. They themselves are real definition of corruption.
Tribal bigotry is very sensitive and fragile when talking about it without been circumspect. We should see ourselves as one people, without tribal differences.. There should not be any tribal war and selectiveness among ourselves as a country. We shouldn’t classify’s some tribes to be more superior than others.
There are certain positions and job employment’s if you don’t belong to a certain tribe you will be disqualified, base on your tribal background. This is a real picture of tribalism.Is true that we have different tribe’s among ourselves but the truth is that we are all one people. We are in a 21century the world has changed from the past. Stopping ourselves to intermarry each other because of tribal difference’s must be stopped.
Indiscipline is another canker. Some of us don’t want to be law-abiding citizens. The reason for that is how some of us are indisciplined. Looking at some behaviors of our’s, in the way some of us talk, dress, our actions and inactions shows clearly that some of us are not disciplined.If we don’t change from our indiscipline nature and character,Ghana our beloved country will never progress, economically, socially physically, and financially. Most developed countries were able to develop because they were discipline. We don’t want to do the right thing but we always needs the rightful results. The discipline organisations and authorities must enforce their veto powers without fear or favor. The laws that must ensures discipline needs to work effectively.The systems and structures to hit on the nails of discipline must not be hijacked. Building a Nation without discipline is like sitting in a glass room, you must not throws stones. Let us avoid and devoid indiscipline, from our personal lives, our homes, and offices. When we crucified indiscipline and resurrects discipline and our Homeland Ghana, will becomes one of the best country in the world.
Ohemaa Mercy 2021 Tahillah Experience, A Night Of Power And Anointing
The 2021 edition of the much-awaited and most attended gospel event of the century ‘Tahillah Experience’ hosted by sensational gospel act Ohemaa Mercy came off last Sunday 8 August 2021
The event as usual saw believers from all walks of life trooping to the ICGC Calvary temple as early as 12:00 noon though the event was scheduled to take off at 4 pm. It was not surprising seeing the auditorium filled with patrons. Others had to sit outside as the main auditorium could not host everyone.
Great personalities such as MOG, Ceccy Twum, Uncle Ato, Philip Thompson (USA) and pastor Oduro graced the occasion.
Controversial actress and radio presenter Efia Swachnezzar and actress cum ‘East Legon land lady’ Tracy Boakye were also in attendance.
Ohemaa Mercy 2021 Tahillah Experience
Ohemaa Mercy 2021 Tahillah Experience1
Ohemaa Mercy 2021 Tahillah Experience2
Ohemaa Mercy 2021 Tahillah Experience3
Tahillah experience is an annual event hosted by multiple award winner Ohemaa Mercy for believers to have special time with God whilst believing him for their breakthrough and supernatural blessings.
This year’s event was not far from what was expected, as many prophecies, healings and an exceptional encounter with the Holy Spirit was felt on the grounds.
My husband is not perfect, but I am a proud wife – Empress Gifty
Empress Gifty has replied to rumors that her husband is a chronic cheat and womanizer. According to Gifty, her husband is not perfect, but she is proud to be called his wife.
A video of Empress Gifty ranting on social media has caught our eye. In the video, a livid Empress Gifty has spilled all the tea on her previous marriage and her current husband’s extracurricular activities.
She said, “Ghanaians, I said if you blog about me, I will not go to your page to reply. I would come to my page and put you in your place. I will also tell you the truth. Now let me describe the husband that I have. I don’t have a perfect man, I don’t have the richest man, I don’t have a handsome man, but I have a God-fearing man.
“My husband is a politician. My husband has the freedom to go wherever he wants to go. I am a wife. What I need to do is to respect my husband’s decision. And that is why the Bible said, husband, love your wife. And wife submit. So that is what I am doing. If you see me glowing, it is inner peace. It is not money. I am the only legal Mrs Adorye.”
“What did you say my husband has done? Does he go from hostels to hotels? Oh sister, is that all you have to say? You said he has a sugar mummy? I pity you.
Empress Gifty continued
“I have not told you that I have a perfect man. I never said I have a rich husband, no. I am happy and honoured that my husband can enjoy my success. Because before, they don’t even eat the food I cook. So today, if I have something and my husband is using it, I am happy. I am a proud wife, Mrs Adorye.”
Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, Samuel Kofi Marful-Sau has been reported dead
According to a report by TV3, the judge of the apex court passed away earlier today.
He was nominated in 2018 to the Supreme Court by the President Nana Akufo-Addo in consultation with Council of State and the advice of the Judicial Council.
Justice Marful-Sau was born in Assin Adubiase in the Central Region.
After qualifying as a Barrister-at-law 1984 he worked at the office of the PNDC and entered private legal practice prior to being called to the High Court bench in June 2002.
‘Lionel Messi feels betrayed by Barcelona’ – the inside track on new PSG star’s Nou Camp exit
So now we know for sure that the day Barcelona never thought they would see is upon them.
After more than 20 years, 778 games, 672 goals, 35 trophies including 10 La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues and numerous personal records and honours, Lionel Messi has left Barcelona.
Even as he packed his bags in readiness for a new life at Paris St-Germain, rumours were swirling around the Catalan capital that Barcelona were on the verge of making a last-ditch offer that would keep him at the club, rumours that sources close to both sides were quick to deny. It was not going to happen.
Lionel Messi
Rumours were started more in hope than expectation by a Catalan media outlet, perhaps unable to grasp the unimaginable reality that from now on this will be a Barcelona without Messi. If they are unable to accept it, imagine how Messi must be feeling.
To begin to try to understand where Messi finds himself as the six-time Ballon d’Or winner prepares for a new life in Paris, we should start with the end of the highly-emotional media conference at which he announced he would be leaving Barcelona.
At the end of it, the cold greeting Messi extended to the recently installed Barcelona president Joan Laporta was in sharp contrast to the effusive display of affection shown by the player when they met at the Nou Camp shortly after Laporta won election.
Disguising his body language either on or off the pitch has never been the Argentine superstar’s strong point.
Throughout the long and drawn out ‘will he stay or will he go?’ saga that has been playing out in Barcelona, Laporta has been unfailingly optimistic, always insisting he and Messi were very close, had an excellent relationship and that things were going very well.
Meanwhile, all the messages I was receiving from the Messi side were similarly upbeat, hopeful that a deal could be done. But – they insisted – they were much more cautious than the president.
Right from the start of his election campaign, Laporta insisted that not only would he be able to persuade Messi to stay (he just needed a “barbecue with him”) but also that he was the only candidate who could do so.
Lionel Messi
So what did he know that the other candidates didn’t? Because what he knows now about the Financial Fair Play regulations that have to be adhered to, the limitations the club are forced to operate under, are no different to what he knew then. Nothing has changed.
What he didn’t know perhaps was the extent of the problem he and the club are facing.
Once in power he was obviously shocked to discover the level of debt. He expected to find a total debt from last season of about 200m euros and instead he has found it nudging 500m.
But also he owes his presidency to those who put down their money as guarantee of 15% of the budget, an obligation from the new directors to confirm the new regime. Those forces are now in charge of a club supposedly owned by season-ticket holders. And they do not want to keep Messi and continue with the huge debt.
A month and a half ago the two men went for dinner, after which Messi felt reassured that Laporta knew a way to guarantee he could stay at the club.
Barcelona eventually produced two different contracts, one for two years, the other for five. The five-year arrangement, which both parties shook hands-on, was one the club felt sure would be approved by La Liga.
La Liga boss Javier Tebas and Laporta met two or three days later, with Tebas telling him they could approve the Messi deal but that it might need the help of private equity group CVC, who have recently agreed a deal, pending club approval, that would inject 2.7bn euros (£2.3bn) into La Liga in exchange for just over a 10% stake in most of its business, with 90% of the injection going to clubs.
The problem with that idea was that Real Madrid and Barcelona decided to go against the deal; a deal would have brought money into the club and 15% of it – around 40m euros – could have been put towards the wage bill.
Although Laporta knew perfectly well that the only way Barcelona could keep Messi would be by accepting the deal (and expressed his enthusiasm for it when he met Tebas), he was convinced by Barcelona’s new chief executive, Ferran Reverter, that doing so would not be in the best interests of the club.
Then things went from bad to worse when Reverter (who has not forgotten the club is now in the hands of those financial forces mentioned earlier) hit Laporta with some numbers that probably made the new president’s blood run cold. With Messi’s wages last season, the wage bill was 110% of income, without them 95%.
Simply put, things became impossible.
But the most worrying aspect, in the opinion of many, is not so much the fact that Laporta decided he was not going to give Messi a contract but rather the way the situation was explained to Messi and his father.
Laporta admitted he decided on the Tuesday not to give a new contract to Messi, two days before he told Jorge Messi that their Barcelona story was over. And now there are more and more clues emerging that the decision had in fact been taken even earlier.
Lionel Messi
Laporta, unsurprisingly, blamed La Liga and its lack of flexibility, while also maintaining that the proposed CVC investment plan was not in Barcelona’s best interests.
But what has really irritated people and has already precipitated the resignation of director Jaume Llopis is the feeling that Barcelona have not done enough to keep him – and it’s safe to say that Messi and his camp wholeheartedly agree.
In an interview on Monday, Llopis said: “I didn’t want to cause such a commotion. I resigned to have the freedom to be able to say what many Barcelona fans think and demand – transparency – which is something that has been lacking. Leo even said so himself: ‘They didn’t do everything that could have been done.’”
But perhaps the most damning revelation of all is the news that on the day of the Messi announcement Laporta was spotted in a top Barcelona restaurant along with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and Juventus’s Andrea Agnelli, the two most eloquent proponents of the controversial European Super League.
A scathing Llopis said: “Nobody can understand that while barcelonistas are crying about Leo leaving, Laporta is enjoying a fish supper with Real Madrid’s president. That doesn’t paint a very good image.”
In their situation, Barcelona’s financial common sense is understandable – but from Messi’s point of view, he went on holiday confident everything would be resolved and came back convinced that all that was missing was his signature.
It broke Messi’s heart and once again he feels betrayed by the club he has given so much to. Barcelona had asked him to accept a 50% reduction in wages and he accepted without even trying to negotiate it.
In fact a 50% reduction is the legal maximum anyone can be compelled to take, so even if Messi had been prepared to accept a bigger reduction, the club would have been breaking the law had they agreed to it.
After a successful Copa America with Argentina he felt good and his plan was to continue his top-level career for two more years, at which point he would be 36. After that, he intended to finish his playing days in Major League Soccer in the United States, possibly with Cesc Fabregas and possibly at David Beckham’s Inter Miami.
While it is true that during his holiday in Ibiza he met with ex-Barca team-mate Neymar, Argentina team-mates Angel di Maria and Leandro Paredes, and Italian star Marco Verratti (all of whom play for PSG), nothing at that point had been decided and he still fully believed he would sign for Barcelona when he returned.
Messi had come close to leaving the club before. Back in 2014, just days before Tito Vilanova’s death from cancer, the former coach had persuaded him to resist the advances of PSG. “You won’t be as happy anywhere as you are here,” Vilanova told him. Messi listened.
Lionel Messi
Then two years later, when he felt that he was being unfairly harassed by the Inland Revenue, he announced that he wanted to leave, not Barcelona, per se, but rather Spain itself. Once again he was talked around.
And then in 2020, after the 8-2 humiliation against Bayern Munich, he tried to put into effect a promise made to him by Bartomeu that he could leave at the end of the season, only for the board to renege on the pledge by claiming that Messi had not made his request in time. Messi’s explanation of the situation was disarmingly simple. “I was lied to,” he said.
Messi has been here before. Back in 2000, just six months after he arrived in Barcelona, during which time injury and bureaucracy had prevented him from playing, the 13-year-old sat down with his parents, two brothers and one sister to make the most important decision of his young life.
Messi told them he was going to stay – and the repercussions would go on to tear the family apart, with his brothers and sister eventually returning to Rosario with their mother while his father, Jorge, stayed with his son in Barcelona.
Now an immensely proud husband and father to three sons, he is desperate to ensure that history does not repeat itself. That is why last year he spoke at length, not just with his wife and soul mate Antonella, but also his children, about whether or not he should move.
Messi was brought up surrounded by the dust-blown, glass-strewn ‘canchos’ prevalent in the working-class district of Rosario but it is Barcelona that his sons Thiago (born 2012), Mateo (born 2015) and Ciro (born 2018) now call home.
Lionel Messi
There were tears then and there are tears now, and Messi has promised his family the move will only be temporary and they will all eventually return to Barcelona.
“Local Accountability Network” group in Techiman unhappy with Municipal Assembly projects after monitoring
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