In the wake of Ghana's 2024 general elections, musician and entrepreneur Criss Waddle has reflected on what he describes as the difficult period Ghanaians endured under the NPP's Akufo-Addo-led government.
Following the 2024 general elections where Ghanaians voted overwhelmingly for the NDC’s flagbearer John Dramani Mahama, Criss Waddle took an emotional look back on what he describes as the horrible period Ghanaians endured under the NPP’s Akufo-Addo-led government. In a series of posts on December 8, the popular musician and entrepreneur shared his reflections on the ‘nightmares’ Ghanaians faced under what he referred to as Akufo-Addo’s ‘tyrannical’ rule over the past eight years.
Criss Waddle's Reflections on Ghanaian Politics
Criss Waddle lambasted the outgoing president for claims of suppressing the freedom of Ghanaians, crippling businesses, imposing higher taxes, fostering corruption, and turning a deaf ear to the struggles of the people. “You arrested almost everyone who spoke against your party, making sure even journalists lost their freedom of speech. You collapsed and crippled almost every business that wasn’t owned by your allies. People cried out in hunger, yet you kept imposing higher taxes,” he posted on X.
The musician also criticised the government’s decision to construct a national cathedral instead of prioritising employment opportunities, despite widespread public opposition. He further accused the government of ruling the country like a military dictatorship. “Almost the whole country cried, begged, and said, ‘We don’t need a cathedral right now. We need employment.’ But you said, ‘NEVER. For eight years, we were all under your military rule. Unless a person shouted, ‘Ajei, I’m hungry or I’m hurting,’ you would arrest or cripple them. Herh, we suffered ooo,” he added.
The climax of Criss Waddle’s posts came when he recalled the “Fix The Country” movement, during which Ghanaians on social media called on the government to address major national issues. “People begged you to fix the country, and you told them to ‘fix themselves.’ Herh, you’re a champion. We will never forget you until we die, short man devil,” he posted.
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Criss Waddle's posts come as many celebrities have begun speaking against the actions of the outgoing government, as the country transitions to new leadership under John Mahama.
Meanwhile, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has emerged victorious in Ghana's December 7 general elections, securing a majority of the votes from both the presidential and parliamentary aspects. Although the Electoral Commission is yet to officially announce the results, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has conceded defeat and congratulated his opponent NDC's John Mahama.
Ghana || Election 2024 || Analysis
Dragan Stojković: From Player to Coach
Dragan Stojković (Serbian Cyrillic: Драган Стојковић, pronounced [drǎɡan stǒːjkoʋitɕ]; born 3 March 1965), also known by the nickname Piksi (Serbian Cyrillic: Пикси), is a Serbian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He was most recently the head coach of the Serbia national team. He is one of only five players to be awarded the "Star of the Red Star" and is widely considered to have never shown his true potential in Europe, as injury prevented him from establishing himself at Marseille over the long term.
Born to father Dobrivoje and mother Desanka in Niš, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia, Stojković took to football very early while growing up in the Pasi Poljana community near Niš. He was nicknamed Piksi after Pixie, one of the characters from the cartoon Pixie and Dixie and Mr. A midfielder and occasional forward, Stojković began his professional playing career with Yugoslav First League and hometown side Radnički Niš.
His full squad debut took place at age seventeen under head coach Dušan Nenković during the 1981-82 season in the form of a substitute league appearance on 4 April 1982 away at FK Vardar. By the 1989-90 season, Stojković became a transfer target for some of the biggest and richest European clubs of the day. Juventus representatives were the first to approach the player as well as Red Star.
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Move to Olympique de Marseille
In the summer of 1990, twenty-five-year-old Stojković made the much publicized move to Olympique de Marseille for a transfer fee of £5.5 million, joining the star-laden squad bankrolled by French businessman/politician Bernard Tapie. The expectations were sky-high with a team featuring world-class players such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Eric Cantona, Chris Waddle, Carlos Mozer, Manuel Amoros, Didier Deschamps, Jean Tigana, Abédi Pelé, as well as newly arrived defender Basile Boli and new head coach Franz Beckenbauer fresh off winning the 1990 FIFA World Cup with West Germany.
Early into his debut season, Stojković sustained a knee injury for which he had to have surgery in Germany, forcing him to the sidelines for months. In fact, the entire 1990-91 league season was injury riddled for the Serb and he ended up making only eleven league appearances.
Beckenbauer stepped down from the coaching post during the winter break, although he remained with the club in an adviser capacity. The new head coach to replace the famous German was Raymond Goethals. In the final of the UEFA European Champions' Cup, Marseille played against Stojković's former team Red Star. Stojković, a penalty kick specialist, entered the game late during the extra-time as a substitute, but as the match eventually went to a penalty shootout, he informed head coach Goethals that he did not want to take a penalty shot against his former team.
Later Career and International Appearances
He subsequently transferred to Hellas Verona in Italy in the summer of 1991, for ten billion lira. The team had won the scudetto just six years before, but after some financial problems had just been promoted back to serie A after one year in the Italian second league. He spent seven seasons with Grampus Eight, retiring as a player in 2001. Stojković played 183 matches for the club, scoring 57 times. He was named J-League MVP for the 1995 season.
Stojković made his under-21 debut on 11 October 1983 versus Norway in Pančevo as part of qualifying for the 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Stojković made 84 career international appearances, scoring 15 times, those split between the SFR Yugoslavia national team and the FR Yugoslavia national team. He played for the former in UEFA Euro 1984, 1984 Summer Olympics, 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1990 FIFA World Cup and for the latter in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000.
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At the 1990 World Cup, Stojković scored both goals in Yugoslavia's 2-1 round-of-16 defeat of Spain in Verona. He was later called to UEFA Euro 1992, but the nation would be suspended due to the Yugoslav Wars.
A highly skilful midfield playmaker, Stojković is considered to be one of the greatest players ever to come out of former Yugoslavia; he was also capable of playing as an attacking midfielder, as a central midfielder, or as a forward, and was even used as a target-man on occasion.
Red Star Belgrade Presidency
In July 2005, Stojković became the president of Red Star Belgrade. Similar to his FA appointment four years earlier, Stojković again became a successor to another tenured, larger than life figure in Serbian football, Dragan Džajić, who had occupied various leading posts within the club's management over the preceding 26 years.
One of Stojković's first orders of business ahead of the 2005-06 season was firing the head coach he inherited, Ratko Dostanić, and bringing Walter Zenga who thus became the first foreigner ever to coach Red Star. Calling on his Japan connections, Stojković also got Toyota Motor Corporation to invest in the club through a shirt sponsorship deal.
On the player personnel front, Stojković initially more-or-less continued the existing "buy low sell high" policy that meant players were mostly recruited from Red Star's own youth system or smaller clubs throughout Serbia and Montenegro, and then sold abroad as soon as they gained some exposure on the European scene. Stojković's most prominent initial move was loaning out striker Marko Pantelić to Hertha Berlin for €250,000 on the last day of the summer 2005 transfer window (Pantelić would eventually be sold to Hertha for additional €1.5 million in April 2006).
On the other hand, 20-year-old striker Milan Purović and 22-year-old keeper Vladimir Stojković were brought to the club from Budućnost Podgorica and FK Zemun, respectively. Additionally, by bringing in Ghanaian midfielder Haminu Dramani, president Stojković indicated he was also interested in affordable foreign imports, which would soon become a staple of his transfer policy.
The squad was further strengthened during the 2005-06 winter transfer window, especially the spots upfront, with the arrivals of attacking midfielder Igor Burzanović from Budućnost Podgorica, Japanese forward Takayuki Suzuki, midfielder Nenad Milijaš from FK Zemun, and striker Dušan Đokić from FK Voždovac.
Winning the double combined with some fine European outings during the previous season raised the fans' expectations considerably as they now wanted the existing Red Star squad kept intact (especially Nikola Žigić who had reportedly already become a transfer target for some high-profile English Premiership clubs) in order to make a serious run at qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stage. However, the first move came as a complete shock-president Stojković sold goalkeeper Vladimir Stojković to FC Nantes, reportedly for €3 million.
Trying to deal with the angry fan reaction, he attempted to explain the move as being necessitated by the club's accumulated debts that had reportedly grown to alarming levels following "years of mismanagement and unpaid commitments of some of the key sponsor pool members". With head coach Zenga departing, Stojković hired celebrated coach Dušan Bajević who thus returned to Serbian/ex-Yugoslav football after almost two decades of coaching in Greece with great success.
The transfers out of the club continued with Milan Dudić sold to Red Bull Salzburg, Haminu Dramani to Gençlerbirliği, and Aleksandar Luković to Udinese, however, their departures caused comparatively less angry fan reaction. Red Star easily eliminated Irish champions Cork City at the start of Champions League qualifying, however, getting drawn against Carlo Ancelotti's powerhouse AC Milan featuring Kaká, Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf, Cafu, Gennaro Gattuso, Pippo Inzaghi, Alessandro Costacurta, etc. in the next qualifying round proved too difficult to overcome, as the Belgrade club lost 1-3 on aggregate.
On the other hand, Ecuadorian defensive midfielder Segundo Castillo joined the club towards the end of the transfer window. Kozić-who had much like the current president Tana been part of the club's managing board during Stojković's 2005-2007 club presidency-added that Red Star's operating expenses had increased significantly under Stojković to €1.5-2 million per month, including the salaries of club officials doubling during 2007 as well as promotional expenses (normally at €100,000) ballooning to €1.1 million over the two-year period.
He added that in total the club had spent almost €50 million during Stojković's two-year presidency; funds obtained either through bank loans or from player sales. Responding to Kozić's accusations, Nagoya head coach Stojković "rejected them categorically", claiming his physical absence from Serbia is being used as "cover-up for Red Star's bad business results".
Despite his status as the club's playing legend as well as its official fifth star, ever since his 2007 resignation from the post of Red Star president, Stojković has had a contentious relationship with a section of the club's ultras, Delije, who blame him for "jumping ship and leaving a financial mess behind". The situation has flared up on several occasions over the years since.
The antagonism between Delije and Stojković reignited again in late May 2022, more than 10 years after the initial 2012 cafe incident, when Stojković-now Serbia national team head coach-came to the Marakana to watch the Serbian Cup final.
Coaching Career in Japan and China
Stojković returned to Japan to take over as manager of his former club, Nagoya Grampus, on 22 January 2008. On 15 March 2008 the former J.League MVP won his first game as manager as Nagoya Grampus stunned AFC Champions League 2007 Champions Urawa Reds 2-0 at Urawa's home, the Saitama Stadium.
In a 2009 J.League match between Yokohama F. Marinos and Nagoya Grampus, Stojković amazed everyone by scoring a goal from his technical area. One of the players had just been injured, so the goalkeeper Tetsuya Enomoto kicked the ball out of play to stop the game.
On 20 November 2010, Stojković led Grampus to the J. League title, the club's first. Stojković has stated that he had learnt a lot about football from former manager Arsène Wenger, who had led the club to their previous best showing in 1995 when they finished runners-up and Emperor's Cup champions, and had kept regular contact with him, with Wenger giving him advice and congratulating him on the club's success.
Stojković has been named by Wenger as the person he would like to take over Arsenal when he has gone stating "Our ideas are the same and we both strive for perfect football."
After the successful 2010 season, Stojković was awarded the J. Stojković was announced as manager of Chinese Super League side Guangzhou R&F on 24 August 2015 on a contract that would expire in 2017.
On 8 September 2016, Guangzhou R&F confirmed that Stojković had signed a renewed contract with Guangzhou R&F until the end of the 2020. Stojković saved the team from the threat of relegation in 2015.
Serbia National Team
In the 2022 World Cup, Serbia were in Group G with Brazil, Cameroon, and Switzerland.
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