Dissolve GFA, suspend league, put Black Stars assignments on hold

There are suggestions the Ghana Football Association (GFA) should be dissolved with immediate effect and all international assignments of the national teams put on hold, following the expose of corruption in the game of football by ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

The host of Peace FM’s Kokrokoo morning show programme, Kwami Sefa Kayi for instance thinks that the league should also be suspended since it has no integrity as of now.

Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his mentor/Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Kweku Baako Jnr had both said the release of the #Number12 documentary which exposes acts of corruption in Ghana football was going to shake the foundations of the game.

Sefa Kayi, had been dropping bits and pieces of what was contained in the documentary weeks before it was premiered in Accra on Wednesday.

He was the one who dropped the hint that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo's name was mentioned in the expose. 

The Ministry of Youth and Sports is yet to comment on the development after the premiere but on his show Thursday morning during the sports segment with Dan Kwaku Yeboah and his team, Sefa Kayi was emphatic that the GFA should be dissolved immediately and the league put on hold as well as international assignments of the various national teams should be put on hold.

He argued that move would be very crucial in helping to restore the tainted image of the game in Ghana.

Already the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has asked Tiger Eye PI, the investigative agency of journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas to provide them with a copy of his #Number12 documentary which exposes acts of corruption in Ghana football.

According to the GFA, Anas did not provide them with an opportunity to watch the premiering of the documentary as it was neither provided with an advanced copy of the said documentary nor furnished with tickets by Tiger Eye PI to watch the airing.

The GFA in a statement assured that there will be no attempt of a cover-up or shield any of our members caught in alleged acts of corruption.

Read GFA's statement after the premiere below;

PRESS RELEASE: GFA STATEMENT ON DOCUMENTARY BY TIGER EYE ON ALLEGED ACTS OF CORRUPTION

The Ghana Football Association (GFA)’s attention has been drawn to the airing of a documentary by Tiger Eye PI alleging acts of corruption by some match officials and senior officials of the federation.

The Gfa was not provided with an opportunity to watch the premiering of the documentary as it was neither provided with an advanced copy of the said documentary nor furnished with tickets by Tiger Eye PI to watch the airing.

Though the GFA did not commission Tiger Eye PI to undertake this exercise and have not been provided with the opportunity of watching the documentary, we view the allegations circulating in the media very seriously and would wish to take immediate steps to address them.

To this end we believe its only fair and proper that Tiger Eye furnishes us with the said documentary and hereby request Tiger Eye as a matter of urgency to furnish us with all the recorded material on this documentary to enable us forward it to the appropriate quarters for further investigations.

The GFA wishes to emphasise that it is an association incorporated under the laws of Ghana and as such governed by the laws of Ghana as well as its own Rules and Regulations. It is also affiliated to CAF and FIFA

The GFA wishes to place on record that, there will be no attempt of a cover-up or shield any of our members caught in alleged acts of corruption.

The GFA wishes to assure all that as an institution it does not condone any manner of corrupt practices.

We wish to put on record that eight months ago, we got evidence of some external influences seeking to manipulate matches in our various competitions.

As soon as it became clear to us that we were facing the possibility of some external influences seeking to destroy the sanctity of the game in Ghana, we wrote to FIFA seeking assistance to help combat this menace.

The action we took was in furtherance of the GFA's desire to fight against match manipulation and maintain the integrity of our game and federation.

We received a full FIFA response few days later, with an action plan on how we can fight the menace of match manipulation through a roadmap for the implementation of the national integrity initiative.

We are still working with FIFA Integrity Department to find the appropriate dates for the action to help educate our members on the dangers of this menace.

The GFA will subsequently be undertaking a holistic review and continue with our reforms geared towards the enhancement of its operations in dealing with alleged acts of corruption in the game.

We urge the football fraternity to remain calm and provide us with all the support we need as we bid to restore confidence and trust in our beautiful game.

We ask anyone with information about these allegations to get in touch with us through: info@ghanafa.org

Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh

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