Raji: Why I quit GHALCA race: And Joe Addo too
Embattled GHALCA chairman, Alhaji Raji Ali, has finally thrown in the towel on his quest for re-election in order to seek fresh challenges elsewhere.
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His exit from the contests sets up a very interesting race for the heart and soul of the league clubs’ umbrella body, with its former Administrative Manager, Kudjoe Fianoo, making a strong bid for the top job, alongside the incumbent GHALCA vice-chairman, Isaac Koomson, Kofi Poku, an executive member, and Nana Sarfo Oduro.
GHALCA goes to the polls on April 21 to elect new executives, with the contest for the chairmanship the most attractive and hottest.
Raji dropped the bombshell at the close of nominations last Monday, insisting that he decided to keep the decision to himself till the eleventh hour to ‘dribble’ everybody.
“Six years is enough; I want to move on to seek fresh challenges elsewhere,” Raji said in an interview with the Graphic Sports last Tuesday
“In football there are a lot of things one can do, so I want to leave the scene and let other people continue.”
According to him, the decision to pick the nomination form only to drop the idea on the final day was to keep people from reading his intentions other than being compelled to do so.
“I knew from day one that I wasn’t going to contest, but picked the form to take people’s mind from suspecting any such move,” he revealed.
Raji explained that his decision not to seek re-election was a well-thought-out one following the challenges he had been through over the past six years.
However, he has also declined to throw his weight behind any of the remaining contestants.
“I want to leave that to the conscience of the delegates. But they must look for somebody who can think on his feet, face challenges and also perform,” he admonished.
Alhaji Raji took over from the Emmanuel Adotey administration in a two-year interim capacity in 2010 before being elected for a full four-year term which was full of crisis.
Meanwhile, the Corporate Affairs and Marketing Manager of Accra Hearts of Oak, Joe Addo, has abandoned his ambition to contest for an executive position at GHALCA after failing to secure endorsement from his club, writes Beatrice Laryea.
The former Black Stars and Hearts centre-back was seeking the position of a Premier League Club Representative on the ticket of Hearts of Oak in the April 21 polls.
Addo, who picked his nomination forms last Friday with an intention to help in the administrative affairs of the association, rescinded his desire after he failed to secure the full support of the board of directors of Hearts.
He told the Graphic Sports in a telephone conversation yesterday that circumstances beyond his control forced him to let go of his dream to serve on the GHALCA executive board.
“I took the forms last Thursday and I informed the board on Friday about my decision to contest for the position. I needed the full support of the board but unfortunately the board would only meet tomorrow to endorse my forms, but the closing date for submission was yesterday so I had to forget about it and move on,” he explained.
When this paper contacted Mr Vincent Sowah Odotei, chairman of the club’s Strategic Management Committee, he was non-committal but only said that it was unfair for Mr Addo to have given such a reason as the cause for abrogating his hope of annexing the position.
“Well, if that was the reason he gave for changing his mind then he has been unfair to us but we will take it like that,” Mr Odotei said.