The administration of football in Ghana has descended into a farce as Normalisation Committee of the Ghana FA has confirmed that government has taken over the running of the game in the country in contravention of FIFA laws.
This shocking revelation was made by the Vice Chairperson of the NC Lucy Quist despite several denials by some members of the ruling government after a committee, to be chaired by the Deputy Minister for Sports, was formed to run a competition for the clubs.
FIFA will frown on any government attempt to take charge of the game after the ministry bypassed the interim body to organise a special competition for local clubs even though NC on the face of it are okay with the decision.
The world governing body will view the latest development as direct government interference and may be forced to step in as it demands the game to be independently run.
Faced with this fact, the highly experienced former sports minister Hon. OB Amoah, who is part of the new committee set up to organise the special competition, denied that a committee has been up to run the game.
But Quist has rubbished the claims by Hon Amoah revealing a new committee was set up by the ministry to run the game chaired by Perry Okudzeto.
“In light of the time left for normalisation, the Normalisation Committee pre-emptively suggested to parliament that a separate committee should run the tournament,” Quist wrote on Tuesday sharply contradicting OB Amoah.
“The NC believes that football should be played but respectfully thinks a separate team should run the competition as the excessive delay means an excessive overrun of the tournament beyond the mandate period. A separate committee will create room for the NC to focus on completing its mandate.
“This approach was vindicated when representatives of Ghalca, Premier League and Division 1 indicated that they would still like a review of financials, regulations and tournament format before any competition is kicked off.
“The Minister embraced the NC’s suggestion, given the circumstances, as being in the best interest of football in Ghana.”
The revelation by Quist exposes the comedy of errors and the lack of the understanding of the game by those charged with administering the game in the country.
It also shows politicians are taking advantage of the vacuum by seeking to control of the affairs of the game which runs contrary to FIFA laws.
This could spark anger within the ranks of the Normalisation Committee as some of them view the setting up of the committee as governmental interference in their work.
Government may win the battle in the end as they are providing the funding for the competition but its clear how FIFA will react if this is brought to their attention.
The decision to form a new team to oversee the management of the Special Competition is a also damning indictment on the Normalisation Committee, who have been on a turf war with Premier League clubs in recent weeks.
The Special Competition was earlier cancelled by the Normalisation Committee a week ago after the committee failed to reach an agreement with the Premier League clubs.
This called for a meeting between the NC, Ghana League Clubs Association(GHALCA), Sports Ministry and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Sports and Culture on Monday to decide whether the competition be abandoned or started.
Speaking on the creation of the new committee after the meeting, Hon. Alex Agyekum revealed that the competition will continue as planned and a committee has been set to administer the competition whilst the NC concentrates on its core mandate.
