Palmer’s appeal thrown out, set to petition FIFA, CAS

Ghana Football Association (GFA) presidential hopeful, Mr Wilfred Kwaku Osei (Palmer), could be heading to the corridors of football’s world governing body, FIFA, and the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) to seek justice after the GFA Normalisation Committee threw out his appeal against the disqualification of his application to contest the FA’s top job.

The Normalisation Committee (NC) , which doubles as the Election Committee (EC) for the upcoming GFA elections on October 25, yesterday rejected Mr Osei’s appeal to have his disqualification overturned on grounds that it failed to meet the Tuesday (October 8) deadline for filing the petition.

A statement yesterday signed by a member of the Normalisation Committee, Naa Odofoley Nortey, on behalf of the Election Committee, said Mr Osei’s appeal was out of time and, therefore, unsuccessful.

Statement details

The statement detailed the reasons for the rejection of the appeal thus:

"Notice of application for an interim injunction on the decision of the GFA Election Committee received on Monday, 7th October, at 5:05 p.m.

"Statement in support for the application for an injunction pending Appeal received on Monday, 7th October, at 5:05 p.m.

"We regret to inform you that based on the above listed documents received before the deadline, your appeal was unsuccessful,” it said.

The Tema Youth FC owner and president, represented by a two-man legal team of Messrs Thaddaeus Sory and Sarfo Buabeng, appealed against his disqualification by the Election Committee, which said he violated Article 33 (5) (c) of the GFA’s General Regulations, coupled with a decision of the GFA Ethics Committee dated December 13, 2017.

Last Tuesday, Mr Osei’s lawyers made public their statement of appeal which challenged the grounds for the football administrator’s disqualification from the election, including details of the Transfer Matching System (TMS) in respect of former Tema Youth FC player Joseph Paintsil’s transfer from Hungarian side, Ferencvaros, to KRC Genk of Belgium, among other supporting documents to fight their case.

Determined

The latest development could throw the upcoming elections in doubt as Mr Osei’s lawyers have vowed to fight the case to the hilt, including seeking justice at CAS in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Already, Mr Osei’s attorneys have filed an application for an injunction in court to put the process on hold till the final determination of their case.

A member of his campaign team told the Daily Graphic on condition of anonymity that Mr Osei felt the NC had particularly targeted him and thus would as a matter of urgency petition football’s world governing body in Switzerland about what he perceives to be bias and victimisation by the NC body to jeopardise his dream of contesting for the GFA top job.