Governments in Ghana have, over the years, been stressing the point that Government alone cannot develop the country to the extent which would please every member of the society.

Individuals, Companies, NGOs and Industrial establishments have often been urged to supplement the efforts of Government and to speed up the socio-economic development of the country.

It is for this reason that Prof. Frimpong Boateng, Chief Executive Officer of Korle Bu Hospital, laun-ched a special heart foundation which would collect monies from individuals and organisations to assist heart patients pay for the cost of heart surgical operations at the Cardio-thoracic Unit of Korle Bu Hospital.

And so far, the society has appreciated the need for such a fund, and donations have been coming in from time to time to pay for about half the cost of open-heart operations. The radio and TV stations and the press have been playing their part by giving as much publicity as possible to activities of the heart foundations.

Just about a week or so ago, I was listening to Happy FM sports programme, when I heard Charles Osei Asibey, a presenter, interviewing a sports enthusiast based in London live, from Accra. What was it about?

Ghanaian footballers, athletes and sportsmen and women, generally who had made it in Europe and other places, had agreed to come together and contribute monies to assist in sports development back home.

According to the spokesman who was being interviewed by Charles, the association had been formed and was going to be formally outdoored two days from that date, in London.

What touched my heart was that, the association had bought and sent tickets to Mohammed Ahmed Polo, Rev. Osei Kofi and the popular one-man-supporter Mr. Boakye, to attend the function in London. Isn’t that wonderful? The function actually did take place as planned, and reports say it was a big success.

The spokesman for the association revealed that the group had been very much concerned about the fact that there was no state of the art modern Sports Hospital in Ghana to cater for the needs of Ghanaian sportsmen and women, especially footballers, who sustain serious injuries to their legs (ie the ankle, the knee) and sometimes their thighs, shoulders or necks. Such people often have to be ferried all the way to Europe and other places for effective treatment.

The association, according to the interview, had therefore collected some monies to come and build a very modern sports hospital in Accra. He said President Kufuor had been informed, and he had promised to assist in finding a suitable site for the Sports Hospital.

This is good news for sports development, and one hopes that this laudable idea would soon be turned into an actual physical structure in the nation’s capital.

The great and controversial Jose Mourinho, was in the country in the past week with some Junior Coaches of Chelsea and the youth team of the club. Our own Michael Essien joined them a day later.

Jose Mourniho’s visit was given very wide publicity by the radio and TV stations of the nation. In fact, the publicity was such that some radio stations actually run a live commentary on the arrival ceremony at the Accra airport.

And according to the live reports, when the excited Ghanaian fans of Mourinho and Chelsea surged forward to get close to him and possibly shake hands with him, he was visibly shaken, not knowing the intentions of the crowd.

Since then he has met the press and answered all their questions. He has been seen by the fans during a training session between the Chelsea junior side and a Ghanaian youth side, at the El-Wak Stadium.

In spite of his abrasive appearance and stern demeanour during football matches involving his team, the man appeared, at least on TV, to be very friendly and sociable as he went round shaking hands with fans, autographing on paper as well as on the palms of many excited fans.

This is reported to be the first time Mourinho and such a group have paid a visit to an African country. Quite an honour, I would say. And one of the activities was the presentation of the "BBC African Player Of The Year" awarded to Michael Essien. It was physically presented to him on behalf of the BBC by the maestro, Abedi Ayew Pele and Essien was excited.

The police, on the other hand, received a lot of negative publicity on radio and TV last week Thursday, 31/5/07, because of the reported arrest of another six policemen on suspicion of dealing in cocaine.

They were bashed around by journalists and resource persons who were in the various radio and TV stations. Judging from the frequency with which some policemen get involved in various crimes, one is tempted to suspect that, the problem lies in the method of selection into the service.

How stringent and meticulous is the selection process? Do we have one or two psychologists or criminal investigation experts on the interview boards, who can tell the character of the candidates at the interview stage after just one or two questions? Or do we collect monies from applicants and then let them sail through, just like that?

As the IGP tries to weed out the bad nuts within the service, he should also ensure that, only persons with the right professional background carry out the interviews. That is where potential criminals can be kept out of the service.