Palmer and GFA’s judgment day finally here!

The cloud of uncertainty hanging over Ghana football is expected to clear today when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rules on the landmark case between Wilfred Kwaku Osei Palmer and the GFA.

The wait has been long, tensions rising high, with nerves simply remaining uneasy as the Ghana game navigates yet another epoch-making curve into the abyss of history.

Without a shred of doubt, this week will go down in the annals of Ghana football as one of the most troubling periods for any incumbent administration, considering the uncertainty of the verdict.

However, the thick anxiety can be compensated for with the firm assurance that CAS would deliver another fair judgement in the supreme interest of Ghana football and also to keep its credibility intact.

Public opinion

One school of thought believes victory for Palmer, for instance, will be victory for local clubs, since it will mark the end of the obnoxious 10 per cent share of transfer fees that clubs pay to the GFA before an International Transfer Certificate (ITC) is issued to the clubs.

Although that practice is an affront to the FIFA Statutes, it has remained in the GFA’s books for some time now, under the guise of being a fund-raiser for the association.

Interestingly, that is Palmer’s bone of contention and the substantial case that resulted in his disqualification from the last GFA presidential election by the Normalisation Committee (NC).

Background

The genesis of this historic dispute was the refusal of the Tema Youth FC bankroller, Palmer, to pay 10 per cent of the transfer fee of his player, Joseph Paintsil, to the GFA.

Paintsil had been transferred from Ferencváros of Hungary to the Belgian side, Genk, in 2018 for a whopping three million euros, out of which the NC expected 300,000 euros to solve its problems.

However, Palmer, who is abreast of the GFA Statutes, ignored the NC’s request on the grounds that the GFA did not deserve the said amount because it did not issue the ITC in the first place.

According to Palmer, it was FIFA which eventually issued an ITC to cement the player’s transfer to the Belgian club after the FA had failed to do so.

Months later, the NC went ahead to disqualify Palmer, after he had gone through vetting, just like the other candidates.

His other crime was for publicly advocating classified payments for the Black Stars, which case had long been dealt with by the GFA Ethics Committee.

Road to CAS

But since he was bent on proving his innocence, Palmer appealed against the decision, but that was dismissed by the NC.

That was what provoked the brainy Palmer to embark on that long-winding journey to the CAS headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland ‘to clear his name and protect his hard-earned reputation’, as he put it. No wonder his counsel, Thaddeus Sory, put forward a carefully prepared 60-page document before CAS to strengthen his client’s argument.

And how the long-standing legal luminary for the GFA became the solicitor for Palmer in this crucial case is equally baffling.

GFA’s strategy

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the beginning of this landmark case 10 months ago, with the GFA refusing to pay its share of the arbitration fee, forcing Palmer to cough up another 22,000 Swiss francs ($24,000) to settle that bill in order to save the case from being thrown out.

As if that was not enough, counsel for the GFA, Naa Odofoley Nortey, later challenged the eligibility of CAS to hear the case, but CAS insisted it had jurisdiction over the case per the GFA’s own statutes. Accordingly, CAS followed up to set July 17 as the date for its final ruling, sending shivers down the spine of all interested parties.

As stakeholders wait anxiously for the CAS ruling even before Friday, it is believed that the outcome could have far-reaching consequences on the direction of Ghana football.

Palmer’s reliefs

Palmer, among other reliefs, is seeking the annulment of the decision on his appeal against his disqualification by the NC, a reversal of his disqualification, annulment of the October 25 GFA presidential election, and the conduct of fresh election with his inclusion in the lst of candidates.

This clearly indicates that the GFA could be heading for an unprecedented bye-election should the verdict favour Palmer. On the other hand, the Kurt Okraku administration will remain in cruise control in case the ruling goes the other way.

Beyond all that, Palmer maintains that his highest motivation for spending a fortune in this mammoth legal tussle is to protect his hard-earned reputation.

Either way, I totally agree with the experts that this historic CAS ruling would lead to some drastic reforms in Ghana football. I only hope that the much-awaited verdict would inure to the benefit of Ghana football and also sanitise the system at the end of the day.