Ghana sports could be heading for trouble and apparent doom if the glaring over enthusiasm of the new Sports Minister Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak is not checked.

The other day the minister raised a mild storm on the eve of the Black Stars World Cup match against Benin, when he unadvisedly tried to tamper with the certified bonuses for the players which did not go well with some of them notably the top pros plying their trade in Europe.

This ill timed altercation with the players might have affected the moral of the players and they could not hit their peak in that nervous1-0 win at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.

Officialdom has tried to play down the incident but keen observers of Ghana’s sporting history are disturbed that whiles President Mills is approaching his national assignment methodically, his Sports Minister might seem in the public eye to be dangerously over-speeding. He would have to watch his steps carefully because the sports ministry could be rough and slippery.

The Minister got some applause when he hurriedly set up a committee to probe the Feb 8 confusion at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi during the Kotoko-Hearts of Oak league match where four football fans died as a result of overcrowding. But the so called white paper on the probe report has triggered a lot of hot debate with the big suspicion that some people have been made scapegoats.

There are obviously a lot of legal implications in the stealing charge preferred against Kotoko CEO Sylvester Asare Owusu plus the five year ban from all football related activities in the country and the purported dismissal of Sports Council CEO Prince Oduro Mensah who was appointed in 2007 by the Public Services Commission for a four year term. It is not established whose money Sylvester stole at the stadium but I have it on authority that the 820 Ghana Cedis collected from fans without tickets was paid into Kotoko accounts.

Some legal brains are even challenging the authenticity of the so called white paper since the probe was a mere ministerial committee and not a commission. Me I don’t know. All I can say is that it looks like a very volatile situation and it would be dangerous for anybody to give credence to the notion that currently politics is rearing its ugly head into the administration of sports and some hawks are eager to be in control of affairs through any means.

My beef is, do we have to sack the Sports Council CEO because we have a new Minister. I don’t think so and we must be careful of the repercussions.

As legal luminary Kofi Kumado a senior lecturer at the faculty of law University of Ghana pointed out the other day, there is no just cause or legal justification to dissolve all boards of the many state organizations because a new President has taken office. I would like to advise the advisers of the new Sports Minister to take his time for we are in a very busy sports season preparing for the Junior World Cup, Senior World Cup, Africa Cup in both hockey and football. All hands would be needed to give Ghana sports a boost. There should be no room for witch hunting.

Those troublemakers who are calling for forensic accounts of the 2006 World Cup are only detracting attention from our forward march towards top sporting success. Don’t mind them.Let’s concentrate on qualifying for World Cup 2010.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.