Unto us a new RAG is given (II)
After the election and installation of a new National Executive Committee of the Referees Association of Ghana (RAG), the various regional associations will take their turn to elect their various regional executive committees.
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From these regional officers, the various chairmen and secretaries will join the national executive to form the National Working Committee. It is this apex committee that has the duty and powers to run the association. The constitution even gives this committee the powers of the national congress.
Indeed, the most vital and effective component of RAG administration and structure is that their decisions and directives are binding on the National Executive Committee. But it does appear to me that there is a lot of excitement about the new executives, perhaps because this is the first time the RAG constitution has compulsorily retired serving RAG officers and allowed fresh and competitive elections (to the executive positions). The expectations of members of the association would therefore be high and demanding.
Mr Alex Quartey, the new Chairman, is a well-known retired FIFA referee who, but for FIFA age constraints, could have handled many FIFA World Cup matches like the upcoming 2014 tournament in Brazil. By football and refereeing administrative age he is very young with so many promising times ahead of him. And so are the rest of his executive committee members. The administration and governance of the RAG shall therefore be on their shoulders.
The new chairman does not need anybody’s advice as such. For if he decides to be HIS OWN MAN and use the brains of his executive committee members, instead of being an apron-string of people who never want to ‘say die’, he could lead the association to higher grounds and achievements’.
A RAG chairman should be a good team leader, always taking decisions with the members of the executive committee. All decisions, information and directives must be from the Executive Committee. That is how the GFA is successfully run. Every member who avails himself should be privy to all contents of notices, circulars and letters from the RAG.
The temptation to call and instruct the General Secretary to carry out directives should be avoided. The executive committee must meet and take decisions. And all these decisions must flow from the deliberations and decisions of the National Working Committee meetings and programmes. One of the most important areas that must be opened and made transparent is the operations of the RAG accounts. Its administration, use, income and more importantly expenditure must be opened to the entire executive committee members. After all, how many are they? Seven.
During the previous Congress in Koforidua four years ago, it was the executive committee members who asked the most questions about the accounts that were presented. Why? Because they were seeing the accounts and hearing of the expenses for the first time in two years. The RAG accounts should not be the preserve of Chairman Quartey and Treasurer Nunoo.
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After the annual registration period the entire executive must be made aware of how much revenue came from the various regional branches, including the number of registered members from each region, broken down into active and retired members. The match taxes must also be well accounted for and categorised.
The situation where some active referees, especially FIFA referees, go into retirement without fulfilling all their tax obligations to the association must be avoided. It is very easy to assess the taxes of referees who handle local matches, but it is not that easy with some of our FIFA referees. Nobody in the RAG executive is new to these issues. The problem is the lack of courage to ensure that the correct measures and sanctions are applied. Of course, this is a national canker.
We know that galamsey is destroying our river bodies; that Okada is illegal; that the Chinese have invaded our retail and petty trading; and we even know where wee smokers and pick-pockets operate, but we have all turned blind eyes to them. How else can we make progress.
Within our small and individual associations, towns and communities, we must learn to insist that the correct thing is done. Our referees association is made up of intelligent and very knowledgeable people, majority of whom have graduated from universities and other high educational institutions. But most of us, like our national character, have turned into hero-worshippers and gossips. We want to tell the big man at the top what we know he wants to hear. He should hear good things from us so that we would be in his ‘good books’. That is the greatest problem of our nation Ghana. But we must think and change!
We as referees and judges should behave differently. We should pursue truth and honour as we implement the 17 laws of the game. Too many referees complain to themselves and among themselves.