Ghana football: How to dribble around nationality rules

In our series of letters from African journalists, Elizabeth Ohene considers why Ghana's nationality laws do not extend to the country's football team, the Black Stars, who are playing at the World Cup in Qatar.

A current MP has just been cleared by the High Court and deemed to have been legitimately elected, after almost two years of litigation, as the court found she had renounced an earlier Ivorian citizenship. Indeed, you do not need to have been born in Ghana, ever visited the country or speak any of the languages.

But years of travel by Ghanaians have ensured that there are generations of young people around the world who can claim a link to Ghana through their parents, grandparents, uncles or aunts.I have been asking myself why I was so outraged by the Zola Budd incident back in the 1980s when a young, white middle-distance South African woman was given a British passport to enable her to participate in British colours at the Los Angeles Olympics.

Probably the most spectacular example in the Black Stars team in Qatar is Inaki Williams, or the "Bilbao-born Inaki Williams" as the news agencies insist on tagging him. For us here in Ghana it is not the number of sudden Ghanaians playing for the Black Stars that we are excited about. The talking-point really is the sheer number of players in foreign teams who could equally be playing for Ghana.

Also for the military, or any role in the Executive Arm of the government (civil service, etc.).

Share this video if you are rooting for Ghana. This Friday it’s on revengegame BlackStars FIFAWorldCupQatar2022

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