It’s fascinating to hear of moves by the government including seeking legal backing and FIFA clearance to dissolve Ghana Football Association (GFA). The move palpably amounts to cutting our nose to spite our face.
What’s the brain behind it? Granted that Nyantakyi and his team of football administrators and officials are all culpable and unfit to run the football in Ghana, I think the path the government has taken begs the question. As a first step, I think the government should have sought to prosecute Mr Nyantakyi and those implicated in the Anas’ video. I wonder what would happen if after dissolving the current GFA and those implicated therein including Mr Nyantakyi are exonerated after legal processes. We have in the meantime only succeeded in trying, condemning and incarcerating those implicated in the “Courts of Public Opinion”. Has any court of competent jurisdiction tried and convicted the suspects in the video?
On ethical grounds and in public opinion the actions and happenings in the video are abominable and condemnable to say least but as to whether those pieces of evidence would not crumble in the face of the law is a matter for another day. Until all Ghanaians decide to shed our cloaks of hypocrisy, bigotry and holier than thou attitudes, this nation would grope in the darkness of confusion and disillusionment in the forward march of Ghana football. Most people are talking as if those captured in the video are the only corrupt people in the whole country.
The video presents to the rest of the country how the vast majority of Ghanaians behave in private and public life. Just like the woman who was caught and presented before Jesus Christ with evidence of adultery, Mr Kwasi Nyantakyi and his cohorts stand condemned and silent. Refreshingly, the verdict remains the same, … “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her (them) first.” (John 8:7). Those among us as Ghanaians who have not corrupted and compromised in our dealings should as well condemn them without our conscience pricking us. We need to condemn them with caution and trembling hearts because we virtually see ourselves largely in the video.
I think the greatest lesson Ghanaians can learn from Anas’ video is that it presents us with a rare opportunity to reflect, introspect and change our mindset and attitudes towards public service. When we are offered the opportunity to work in any capacity of trust, we have to put the national interest ahead of personal interest and selfish gains. If we are going to dissolve and collapse public and private institutions because actors therein are suspected to be corrupt, then most probably no single institution in Ghana is qualified to run. Anas’ video has affected institutions over time but those institutions continue to run. The reason is that we are to establish effective and stronger institutions that are more powerful than individuals and personalities. Institutions go beyond individuals, their strength and weaknesses. The sanctity and effectiveness of institutions are to outlive any single individual. The government should necessarily work hand in hand with GFA, GHALCA and other related agencies to find a lasting solution to the conundrum in the GFA today.
It must be stressed that even the Interim Team put in place by the government has had its fair share of challenges already with Kojo Fianoo, bowing out of it. Though Abedi Pele is a towering figure in Ghanaian, African and world football with CAF and FIFA connections. He is far from being a saint as he has had his own blots and low sides. For instance, in 2007, there was a match-fixing scandal involving his team, Nania FC and Great Mariners, resulting in one year ban and demotion to the third division in Ghana.
As the owner of a football team (Nania FC), don’t we smell the possibility of conflict as happened under Mr Kwasi Nyantakyi? That is enough admission that none of us is completely a saint when it comes to morality, professionalism and competence. This presupposes that if the government of Ghana wishes to have an incorruptible leadership and body to work within Ghanaian football administration, then Ghana must as well apply to heaven for angels to be recruited to run GFA.
Finally, my piece of counsel to the whole country is that we should quit being reactionary and petty and strive to find a lasting solution to the whole mess we find ourselves in now. The success or failure of GFA goes beyond Mr Kwasi Nyantakyi and certainly any other Ghanaian. The baby must not be thrown away with the bath water. My lives and destinies depend on football and related activities for survival so one man’s offense must not be allowed to crush the entire football association in Ghana.
(Writer: Clement Adjei Sarfo, President, Youth Empowerment Summit, sarfo22@yahoo.com, 0274445696.)
