The dissolution of the GFA, sacking of the three officials and the fake $8 million donations to the NDC and Mr Mahama are all diversionary tactics aimed at diverting attention away from what Nyantakyi said about the President and his Vice in the Anas video.
Despite the strenuous effort at cover-up, discerning Ghanaians [ads1]understand that the stories about the former President do not add up, the dismissal of Klenam and Alfred Obeng is just a knee-jerk reaction and the dissolution of the GFA is a hasty decision taken to appease Ghanaians who are so disappointed in the President, his vice, and appointees mentioned in the video. It had become the pastime of the Akufo-Addo presidency that each time it was under fire for under-performing or serious corruption issues it could not sufficiently explain to the people, it resorts to flying dubious kites and selling cheap dummies to distract the people and obfuscate the issue at hand.
Right now, a matter of urgent national importance arresting the attention of all and sundry is that of what Nyanyakyi said in the video about the President and his Vice when he met Anas’s investors. The President and his team led by his nephew are shamelessly playing on the intelligence and psyche of Ghanaians taking undue advantage of the anger being expressed by Ghanaians against the GFA. It is very unfortunate that we brought ourselves to this sorry pass. People who know the President from Adam sounded warning which, unfortunately, were not heeded but, then, there will surely be a new dawn for Ghana very soon.
Many Ghanaians if not all, have been complaining about the massive corruption in our football. In 2014, I personally organised some Ghanaians to demonstrate against the Association. It was highly publicised but had to suspend the demonstration because of assurance CAF gave us. The Anas video received huge public attention because of this long-held bitterness and the general disposition has been that, Kwesi Nyantakyi and his henchmen must go. The demand for their exit became more intense after premiering of the video. People became more incensed and not prepared for any delay in their removal.
FIFA strictly only partners with national football federations that are free of influence from their individual state governments. Apart from the usual governmental support to the FA, most countries approach a noteworthy role in global soccer because of talent, and FIFA provides the means and funds for player development. So, FIFA’s rules normally matter. The countries have a lot to lose by missing out on events that would bring their players to the world stage. Some football people including myself have argued that government’s influence should go as far as its money does- into the national teams, the league etc. In Ghana, the game has become just a pool where money is poured in and there is no real result. We know that FIFA as a body has strong principles. We know that it has a committee which deals with relations between FIFA and its members with the view of achieving optimum cooperation. And if governments try to intervene in running of associations FIFA quickly intervenes. That notwithstanding, we know that FIFA frowns on bribery, extortion and all unethical practices. The body recently went through a revolution which led to the removal of some of its officials.
What is political interference? The Association has the obligation to operate on its own in an autonomous way without outside interference, from the government or any other parties. In general, political interference is when a government tries to take direct control.
Yea, we’ve been craving for Nyantakyi’s removal. But government shouldn’t take advantage of the horrible situation he finds himself and push its image cleansing agenda. There are so many appropriate methods government can use in its cleansing exercise. The association is a limited liability company covered by all laws enacted to regulate and protect limited liability companies. I have serious issues with government’s decision to dissolve the company. Ordering the Registrar General to remove or de-register the company from its books could trigger serious legal battle between the FA, and government. I decided to use the demonstration approach in 2014 because of these complexities. I don’t think dissolving the whole FA is the best approach. The most common case of political interference is when a government perceives that the Executive Committee of the national association is not performing well enough and decides to take action. This is captured in FIFA’s rules. Ghana is not the first country to make this move- Spain, Nigeria etc took same decision some time ago. FIFA initially had issues with their decision but in the end, the countries benefited from that revolution.
The situation here is a bit different. Different because, the person who is spearheading this interference himself has some questions to answer. The previous administration handed a white paper on the Brazil World cup issues to him. Certain recommendations were made by the commission relative to development of our football. When he [President] was asked by a journalist his plans with regard to the white paper,he said that he has no interest in that and that has not been on the radar. Maybe, if he had shown little interest in what his predecessor handed to him, the situation wouldn’t have escalated to this point. All the problems, unethical practices etc we saw in the video, are captured in the whitepaper. The commission made few recommendations to help the system purge itself of these evil practices. Is government going to institute another commission? Are they going to appoint their own people to handle the FA? Nyantakyi must be made to face his own fire together with those executive members who connived with him to perpetuate his wicked deals. The FA as body must be allowed to function with governments monitoring its transformation agenda. Some of the executives openly “fought” Nyantakyi over his nefarious activities. Some of these protesters were either sacked or made to go through serious challenges. His Vice Chairman George Afriyie who openly criticised him over his activities was removed from his position because he announced his intention to contest for the FA President position. We saw the frustrations others such as Fred Pappoe, Randy etc went through. There are enough charges to bury the FA President.
The government should go back and study the Brunei Darussalam case. The Football Association was de-registered by the government, which wanted another organization to control their football. This led to a long suspension between September 2009 and May 2011. The government had no option than to re-register the association.
GOVERNMENT AND THE SPORTS MINISTER:
The Sports minister himself must be made to step aside for the CID or a commission to investigate him thoroughly. Most of the scenes in the video happened during his time. He cannot walk around free whilst investigation is ongoing. His abysmal performance as a minister and lack of effective supervision have led to this disgraceful story about our football, the President, and the nation. He is a close pal of the FA President and has been showering praises on him at the least opportunity. His name was not mentioned in the video though, but that does not exonerate him totally.
Government’s own actions and pronouncements by some top officials of the NPP have undermined the credibility of the government in this matter. It has no moral authority to take punitive action against Kwasi and his henchmen when it has not cleared itself of the heavy baggage hanging at its back. The President’s response to Kwesi’s statement is too scanty and not convincing enough.
All in all, Kwesi must go and must suffer same punishment at all levels but we must carry out this holy operation tactfully.
