Ghana water polo team forced to send one player to competition amid ongoing Ethiopian Airlines row

By Aaron Benzoe, Assistant News Editor

One young water polo player from Ghana took on a whole team at a high-stakes tournament, as his club could not afford to send their full squad due to an issue with Ethiopian Airlines.

But the Black Star Polo team are not the only flyers to have problems with the company, with officials from the country saying “other Ghanaians faced unnecessary discrimination and delays by the Ethiopian Airlines”.

Kingsley Appiah, 9, and his coach flew more than seven hours from Ghana to Brazil, to represent their team in the HaBaWaBa tournament - one of the biggest children’s watersports competitions in the world which ran from December 13 until 17.

After overcoming many challenges with getting visas in the past, the Black Stars thought their dream of becoming the first Sub-Saharan African water polo team to compete in the HaBaWaBa tournament had come true. 

Coach Prince Asante Sefa-Boakye, said while they felt extremely grateful for the opportunity, they were left feeling "disappointed” the whole team couldn’t go. 

Mr Sefa-Boakye explained due to issues with Africa’s biggest airline, Ethiopian Airlines, the seven other players to missed out on the December tournament. 

He booked the team’s flights to Venice last summer but had to re-route them to Brazil after the young players’ dreams dashed when they were denied their visa’s to go to Italy. 

Other athletes from developing nations have faced a similar plight when travelling to compete on around the world.

Until recently the Black Stars thought they had another shot to achieve their dreams, as they overcame the visa issue. This is “when it gets deeper,” Mr Sefa-Boakye says.

Two weeks before the competition, Ethiopian airlines asked the coach to pay a surcharge of up to $1,500 (worth £1178.53) per player.

Mr Sefa-Boakye said:” They were saying we have to pay the difference of $1,377 (£1,081.81 ) per ticket and that I need to get a new reservation, that's another crazy price.” 

He had been forced to fundraise to get the team to Brazil, but he did not have enough to cover the extra costs. He added: “there's no way to raise $20,000 (£15,712.50 ) in two weeks.”

Mr Sefa-Boakye said: “At the end of the day I could only afford one player to go to Brazil and that was Kingsley”

Later on, Mr Sefa-Boakye was advised by the Brazilian ambassadors not to fly with Ethiopian Airlines as others flying from Ghana to Brazil were hit with the extra charge.

“I wouldn't call this discrimination. I don't want to go down that rabbit hole because there are multiple reasons why it could have gone down that day. 

“I think it may just be business and that they were like you have a great dream but you have to pay the price,” he said. 

While it was tough without his team, Kingsley’s family was delighted their son was able to compete.

Speaking to ITV News, Kingsley said:  “It was a very long journey but I appreciate God that I was able to go and come back safely. And I thank Asante (his coach) for all he has done for me."

Kingsley continued: “It was difficult to communicate with the rest of the players because they spoke Portuguese”.

Mr Sefa-Boakye had to translate from Portuguese to Kingsley’s native Ghanaian language called Twi.

But he was thrilled to play with the other Brazilian player as they volunteered to play in place of the missing seven players.

Eight out of 12 of the players were granted a visa to Brazil. 

The remaining four of the players were denied visas because they had no certificate for their parents' death.

The Brazilian Embassy in Ghana responded to the Black Star Polo plight and mentions multiple cases when “other Ghanaians faced unnecessary discrimination and delays by the Ethiopian Airlines” in an aide-memoir.

Ghanaian poet, Theresa Kufour also known as Twita Lite was unable to represent her country in the World Poetry Slam Competition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The airline demanded she pay a deposit before boarding the flight despite the receiving a letter from the Embassy regarding the competition on October 10.

The 23-year-old, who describes herself as “a wordsmith, spoken word and creative artist” dominates poetry competitions in Ghana and is the country's reigning Ehalakasa Slam Champion.

Another case occurred when a Ghanaian Professor, Abena Obiri-Yeboah was scheduled to fly to Colombia to deliver a lecture but was refused to board from Accra, Ghana.

The airline officials claimed the Ghanaian professor needed an authorisation from the Brazilian Immigration in order to board, despite having the “OK TO BOARD” document from the Brazilian Embassy in Ghana.

Brazilian immigration authorities as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to the Embassy that there was no such requirement in the Brazilian law for anyone travelling to Brazil.

The professor had to purchase another ticket to Doha, Qatar to come to Brazil and continue on to Colombia.

The Brazilian Embassy said: “It is highly recommended that this matter should be accorded urgent attention by the Ethiopian Authorities for necessary remedial action to be taken. 

“The irregularity of the business practice, the lack of transparency as to the reasons for the imposition of the charge, the fluctuating amount of the charge, (though never below USD $1000) all militate against the continued use of the flagship airline of a brother African country to travel to South America. 

“We have become a point of call for frustrated passengers, and we ask for your assistance in finding a remedy to this increasingly difficult situation.”

ITV news approached the Ethiopian Airline for comment by they are yet to respond.

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