Minister, GFA to meet FIFA in Zurich

A proposed meeting between a delegation from Ghana government and football's world governing body in Zurich today has been rescheduled to a yet-to-be-confirmed date, the Daily Graphic has learnt.

Ghana’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Isaac Kwame Asiamah, wrote to FIFA last week requesting for audience to brief the body about the current happenings in Ghana football following the screening of a documentary by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, over massive corruption among leading football administrators and referees.

The video implicated the former GFA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi, in alleged corrupt acts and other dealings against the interest of the GFA. Mr Nyantakyi, the First Vice President of CAF and a member of the powerful FIFA Council, resigned from all football roles days after FIFA’s Ethics Committee handed him a 90-day worldwide ban from all football activities.

Public reaction after the expose triggered a number of actions by the government that could lead to the dissolution of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

FIFA, in response, requested that the government delegation included the General Secretary of the GFA, Mr Isaac Addo, and another official to be nominated by the FA top administrator for the proposed meeting.

With the World Cup taking place in Russia, FIFA's adminsitration has been temporarily relocated to Moscow, but a top FIFA official had been assigned to meet Ghana's delegation at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

In a letter dated June 15 to the minister, a copy of which has been sighted by the Daily Graphic, Mr Veron Mosengo-Omba, the director in charge of FIFA member associations in Africa and the Caribbean, explained that the proposed meeting in Zurich is to discuss the situation facing the GFA, for which it would require the presence of the FA General Secretary and another official.

A source told the Daily Graphic yesterday thay Mr Asiamah had indicated that the proposed June 19 date was unsuitable and that he could only be available after Thursday, June 21. As a result, the meeting has been rescheduled pending the availability of the minister.

The source also indicated that the GFA had also written to FIFA informing the world body about the current situation.

Last week, the government, through the Attorney General secured a 10-day injunction against the organisation of any football activity as part of its plans to dissolve the GFA.

Subsequently, government also last week, announced that a five-man Interim Management Committee (IMC) led by businessman and a former GFA Management board member, Dr Kofi Amoah, had been set up to temporarily run football in Ghana.