Govt to dissolve GFA this week

The government is to trigger legal processes this week that will lead to the dissolution of the Ghana Football Association, a Deputy Attorney General, Mr Joseph Dinkiok Kpemka, has revealed.

Last Thursday the government, in a statement, indicated that it had initiated processes to dissolve the football controlling body in the aftermath of public outrage at an exposé by the ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, which revealed corrupt massive act among high ranking officials of the FA and referees.

The undercover investigation, captured in a documentary, entitled #Number 12, has since led to the resignation of the GFA president, Kwesi Nyantakyi who was secretly filmed engaged in alleged corrupt practices with undercover agents disguised as Arab investors interested in sponsoring Ghana football. Mr Nyantakyi, who is also the First Vice President of the Confederation of African Football and a member of the FIFA Council, was last Thursday handed a 90-day worldwide ban from all football activities pending investigations by FIFA’s Ethics Committee.

Last Saturday, Mr Kpemka, confirmed on Joy FM’s news analysis programme, Newsfile, that the government was determined to clean up the rot at the FA and would, therefore, trigger the necessary legal processes this week that could ensure the FA, currently without clear leadership, was dissolved to assuage the anger of Ghanaians.

He indicated that the government would trigger both the Company’s act and the Official Liquidations Act, as part of the legal regime necessary to ensure the dissolution of the GFA, a limited liability company.

Last Friday, the police cordoned off the FA Secretariat at Ridge in Accra and declared the premises a crime scene, thus preventing officials of the football administration from accessing the offices.

“We have two main laws that we are going to trigger in this – Act 179, which is the Company’s Act and Act 180, Section 4, which is the Official Liquidation Act.

“We will trigger the processes there that would lead to, if need be, winding up and a takeover. The Registrar’s powers and Attorney General’s powers will be invoked in this processes,” said the Deputy Attorney General.

Mr Kpemka said the government was minded by the mood of Ghanaians, one of disapproval at the rot at the FA since the documentary was first aired last Wednesday, and would ensure that the process to dissolve the FA was “immediate” and the actions taken would comply with the necessary laws of the country.

The government, he added, would act in a manner that would be legal and also satisfy the anger of the public.

“What is going on is part of the legal processes to dissolve the GFA. The police have gone to cordon off the place and say it’s a crime scene. They [police] have gone through the legal processes to do what they are doing,” assured the Deputy Attorney General.

Last Fridays, the administration of the FA was further thrown into confusion following the resignation of Mr Nyantakyi after 13 years as head of the football governing body. And with the immediate past FA president dismissing his vice, George Afriyie, on April 24 for mistrust and alleged lack of loyalty, there is no clear leader for the powerful Executive Committee of the FA, which saw one of its members, Abdulai Alhassan, resigning last Saturday having been captured in the secret recording engaged in alleged corrupt acts.

Meanwhile, the GFA in a statement, last Saturday said that a five-member committee comprising of Messrs Kweku Eyiah (leader), Benjamin Nab Eyison, Kurt Okraku (spokesperson), Isaac Addo and Samuel Opoku Nti has been tasked to meet the government for a resolution of the current impasse, as well as draw up a programme for lasting reforms.