State has power to call FA to account — FIFA document

A member of the moribund Public Interest Committee (PIC), Geofrey Oteng-Arthur, yesterday furnished the Dzamefe Commission with an official protocol agreement which holds national football associations accountable to their governments in matters of mutual interest.  

The document, titled ‘Standard Co-operation Agreement’, among other things, streamlines ways through which governments could hold Football Associations accountable for monies disbursed to them for the management of national teams.

Standard Co-operation Agreement

Tendering it to support his evidence at yesterday’s sitting, Mr Oteng-Arthur, quoted Articles 31 (i), which requires a meeting between the FA and the government to discuss how subsidies granted to the FA are managed.

According to him Article 39 also stipulates that an annual meeting should be held between the FA and the government to discuss how such monies are dusbursed, while a FIFA official could be invited to that meeting, where necessary.

‘The document gives the state powers to go into all that goes into the finances,” he said.

He said the document, which is the official position of FIFA to serve as a guide for both parties, took effect from January 1, 2008, after it was approved on October 27, 2007 and circulated to all member associations on December 28, 2007.

He told the commission that he had further details to tender in camera and he was obliged.

While Mr Oteng-Arthur thought the document needed to be signed by the two parties to put it into effect, the commission, led by Justice Senyo Dzamefe, proved to him from some sections in the document that it was already being used.

Challenges of PIC

The founder of Aburi Highlanders revealed that though the PIC was formed in 2011 to facilitate budget, finance and other logistics for the various national teams, that concept was defeated when the Ghana Football Association (GFA) who side-stepped it to deal directly with the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

According to him, the five-man GFA sub-committee, which included its chairman, Prof Aloysius Denkabe, Ernest Thompson (vice), Thaddeus Sory, and Abedi Pele, met only twice in its first term, and had failed to meet since its second term took effect from 2012.

Being a government nominee on the committee alongside Abedi Pele, Mr Oteng-Arthur recalled that the Black Stars were not discussed even once during the period, and suspected a calculated attempt by some people to frustrate the committee’s work.

‘My candid opinion is that some people are not comfortable with the PIC. I think the PIC should be given a free hand to operate.

“If the Ministry deals directly with the GFA, the whole concept will be defeated,” he lamented.

He declined knowledge of a PIC memo purported to have been sent to the GFA requesting for estimates for CAN 2012, which was earlier tendered by Prof Denkabe.

He also contested his chairman’s assertion that the committee met the chairmen of the various management committees in the course of their work, insisting that they actually interacted with only one of them during their second meeting.

PIC charman’s evidence

Prof Denkabe, who opened yesterday’s sitting, also highlighted the frustrations of the PIC and cited an instance where the then General Secretary of the GFA referred him to the Ministry when he requested for the FA’s budget for the 2012 Nations Cup.

He admitted there was a challenge since the PIC, which was a sub-committee of the FA, could not for instance, challenge the decisions of the Executive Committee.

“I personally took a more conservative position because I was careful not to build upon the bureaucracy that was already in place,” he noted.

He disclosed that the PIC was not involved in the CAN 2012 preparation because the old system prevailed at the time.

When Moses Foh-Amoaning asked why he did not forcefully address the issue or quit, he said he thought the responsible thing to do then was to watch the old order and find ways to improve it.

He also told the commission that he and his colleagues sought audience with the then Sports Minister, Kofi Humado, to discuss how best it could interact with the other stakeholders such as the Ministry of Finance and the National Sports Authority.

Background

He explained that the idea was mooted in the 2008/2009 season when it emerged during a conversation between FIFA President Sepp Blatter, GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi and then FA member Dr Kofi Amoah, at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, regarding how to manage conflicts between the FA and the government.

He revealed further that it was initially called the Government/GFA Relationship Committee but was later changed to PIC.

‘The composition of the PIC indicates that members are really not representing the public but themselves and those who appointed them.

‘The name is a misnomer; a bit of a red herring,’ he stated.

He agreed with Mr Foh-Amoaning that members of the committee should be representative enough across the board to serve the interest of the general public.

Prof. Denkabe also stressed that as part of its role of formulating policies, the PIC could consider a national policy whereby all national teams could adopt one particular philosophy.

One Man Supporter 

The toast of the commission was Abraham Boakye and his Ghana National Supporters Union (GHANSU) members, who set the place alight with some intermittent cheer songs during their president’s interesting evidence.

One Man Supporter, as Boakye is affectinately called, told the commission that his union embarked on a fundraising drive to riase funds from its members as  a requirement for the 15 slots which were allocated to them for Brazil 2014.

With about 30 years’ experience under his belt, One Man Supporter told the commission that he registered GHANSU, which had about 6,000 members, in 1996 and had since been supporting the various national teams mostly through their own means.

Considering the important role supporters play in the game, he suggested the need for FIFA to devote a percentage of its appearance fees for participating countries to supporters. 

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah’s visit

Meanwhile, the former Sports Minister, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, paid a courtesy call on the commission prior to the day’s sitting.

When asked about his mission after the in-camera session, he told the Daily Graphic that he thought it wise to pass through the commission since he initially did not know people could visit them, aside the public sittings.

Sitting continues on Tuesday.