GFA finally secures legal ownership of Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence lands

The Ghana Football Association has finally secured 65.20acres of the Prampram lands on which the GFA Technical Centre (Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence, GSCE) is situated.

This follows successful negotiations with the allodial title holder (landowner), the Numo Awuley Kwao Family of Miotso in Prampram for the legal ownership of the land by the Ghana Football Association.

It would be recalled that President Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku, in his first address to the GFA Congress indicated that he has initiated the process to enable the Association to legally own the land because unknown to many in the football fraternity the land did not legally belong to the GFA.

The GFA President also informed Congress that due to the new rules under FIFA Regulations for the FIFA Forward Programme, unlike the FIFA Goal Project, no approval would be granted by FIFA for infrastructure projects to be undertaken on lands that were not legally owned by the Football Association.

The land ownership situation according to him, was the reason why the Technical Centre has not benefited from FIFA infrastructure investment since the introduction of the FIFA Forward Programme. President Simeon-Okraku then assured Congress that all efforts would be made to acquire the ownership of the land to enable further development at Ghanaman Soccer Centre Excellence.

President Simeon-Okraku in his speech to the last Congress updated members of the progress made so far in the engagements with the Numo Awuley Kwao Family of Miotso. This led to a presentation to Congress of the Master Plan for the new phase of the Technical Centre.

“The Football Association is happy to announce that it has signed the necessary documentations with the Numo Awuley Kwao Family of Miotso which secures a land size of 65.20 Acres (26.39 Hectares) of the Technical Centre lands''.

''This is a major accomplishment of the Football Association since over the years people have been encroaching on the land to the extent that 34.80acres of the original parcel of 100acres land had been lost. The Association is very happy to have completed the successful negotiations with the owners with an agreed payment plan.” said General Secretary, Prosper Harrison Addo, Esq.

The overjoyed General Secretary also explained “the Association has been trying to legally own the land since 1998 and thus this feat is a great achievement for football development programmes of the Association”.

According to the General Secretary, the signed and registered land indenture forms the basis for FIFA Infrastructure investment at the Technical Centre going forward per the relevant FIFA Regulations on FIFA Forward Programme.

The General Secretary thank all the forebearers who have helped over the years, including Hon. E.T. Mensah, as well as the current Executive Council led by President Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku for this feat.

The land which was initially given for sports development through the efforts of Hon. E.T. Mensah (the then Minister for Youth & Sports) was 100 Acres but over the years the Association could not register it due to various issues.

The ownership of the land by the Numo Awuley Kwao Family of Miotso has been confirmed in several cases at the superior courts of Ghana.