By: Jerry Afriyie-Paemka

Date: 04-07-11

The Ghana Football Association has confirmed receiving 28 nominations ahead of elections for places on the executive committee.

The candidates have filed their nominations to take slots of the Constituent Bodies, Premier and Division One Leagues.

Eleven places are up for elections on the committee for the above groups with the breakdown as follows: Constituent Bodies - 1, Premier League - 6, Division One League – 4.

Those vying for the places are: Constituent Bodies- Leanier Afiyea-Obo Addy, Joseph Yaw Adu, Habiba Attah and Sylvester Twinton Mensah. Premier League- Kofi Manu, Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, Jones Alhassan-Abu, Moses Armah, Samuel Oduro-Nyarko, Emmanuel Kyeremeh, Kudjoe Fianoo, Desmond Frimpong-Manso, Felix Amoah Ansong, Fred Crentsil, Randy Abbey and John Frederick Mensah. Division One League- Oloboi Commodore, Fred Pappoe, Delali Eric Senaye, George Kwasi Afriyie, Kingsley Osei Bonsu, Ronald Jojo Duncan, Mac-Paradise Okocha, Wilfred Kwaku Osei, Kweku Ayiah, Nana Adjei Ampofo, Nimo Peter Kwasi and P. Hayford Cudjoe.

The question being asked is why the scramble to serve on a committee that is supposed to be sacrificial.  Most of the Premiership CEOs and club owners are shoving each other for one of the six slots to represent the elite division on the 23-man committee. The case is no different at the division one level.

Observing from afar, it looks like in practice serving on the executive committee is no longer charity work and people are not working pro bono as we are made to believe but rather a gold mine that can be exploited to the advantage of a privileged few.

If the jostle for an executive committee membership is anything to go by, then I will not be surprised if people break bones to get elected onto the more lucrative emergency committee, which will be carved out of the executive committee. 

The emergency committee is in charge of the day-to-day administration of the Association.

Maybe the incoming administration in a way should involve as many people as possible in the family to play some of the key roles.

There is a perception that the top hierarchy of the outgoing administration hijacked major assignments and positions especially with regards to the various national teams and appointed mainly friends and cronies to serve on them whiles those who dare raised their voices were left to bite their fingers.

Maybe that explains why there is a mad rush to gain access to the ‘cake’ and not rely on the magnanimity of anyone. 

This practice is not a healthy for any association that aspires to achieve excellence. The association needs unity and therefore must learn from past mistakes. It should be all hands on deck.

Let me at this stage congratulate Kotoko representative Hon. Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah for getting the nod from his colleague directors to represent Kotoko at the association. We need level headed, firm and experienced hands like the Kwabre MP who is also a former Ashanti Regional Minister and a former GFA veep.

He is clearly ahead of the pack and his election not only to the Executive Committee but also to the Emergency Committee should be a forgone conclusion if the electoral college to elect new members really have the association and Ghana football at heart.

Kotoko is bringing on board a colossus in football administration and backing him to play a major role in bringing reforms to Ghana football. 

However before the extended mandate of the current administration ends, football loving Ghanaians should rise up and stop them from awarding themselves ex-gratia.

The current F.A members don’t deserve a pesewa as handshake because they have benefited immensely during the course of duty. FA members received traveling allowances, per diem etc.

I stand to be corrected but this FA is the only FA in the history of Ghana football to have paid themselves winning bonuses which is termed honorarium.

Although the winning bonuses of the Black Stars players are always made public, till date the public does not know how much FA members receive as honorarium.

The other day, I was going through some archives and I read somewhere that in 1981, former President Limann ordered that the Black Stars withdraw from the Libya 1982 cup of nations but before the order could be effected, he was overthrown by the PNDC regime chaired by Flt. Lt. J.J Rawlings who reversed the order and S.K Mainoo was tasked to prepare the Black Stars for the tournament without a pesewa.

He used his personal resources to prepare the Stars and that was the last time the Black Stars won the cup of nations.

Even in recent history, I know that individuals in former GFA boss Alhaji Jawula’s administration funded national teams from their private pockets until they were reimbursed much, much later.

Ladies and gentlemen, these illustrious sons of our motherland did not receive a dime as thank you when they were leaving office. So someone should give a good reason why we should pay ex-gratia to people whose efforts have already been rewarded whiles in office.

The reason why the GFA should quickly confine the idea of ex-gratia to the dustbin is that, the executive committee is expected to play the role of watchdog over the Emergency Committee and so if the emergency body pays ex-gratia to the executive committee, it will naturally mean “scratch my back and I will scratch yours” which will be a very bad example for future associations. 

No wonder there is a mad scramble to serve on the executive council.  And if I may ask, if people are so desirous of volunteering to serve, why are people not rushing to help hockey, hand ball or my second passion, horse racing, which is now completely dead in Ghana and seriously need people to volunteer their time, energy and resources to revive the sport.

Cheers!