Ghana may be compelled to pull out of IOC

Accra, Nov. 5, GNA- Ghana may be compelled to pull out of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) sponsored programmes in a move that could be the outcome of its last result in solving the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) impasse.

The Presidents of the 32 Associations under the National Sports Council (NSC) said at a press conference on Friday that Ghana may be compelled to take such an action if the IOC continues to 'shift the goalpost' in its attempt to resolve the GOC impasse.

Dr Michael Nunoo, spokesperson for the group accused the IOC for been unfair to Ghana in it's handling of the GOC issue and fingered the global body's new directives that has set a December deadline for the passage of the Sports Bill as unwarranted.

The IOC per the new directive has assumed a posture that makes the passage of the Sports Bill which is now with Cabinet and yet to go through Parliament, as the central requirement for going for elections contrary to the roadmap agreed on.

Dr Nunoo said "for the IOC to threaten to ban Ghana if the law is not passed by December, smacks of neo-colonialist tendencies that are empirically linked to racist hegemonies; after all, these people know that the timing of the passage of laws does not rest in the bosom of one person, be they Minister of Sports or even the President of the land." The latest directives contradicts the IOC's roadmap drawn for Ghana last November that called for a revision of the constitutions of the various national associations to conform with their respective international federations, the holding of democratic elections in the various associations with oversight from the international federations and the recognition or ratification of the elected executives by the international federations.

Dr Nunoo said the associations were in consultation to arrive at a decision that places Ghana first and would make public their position in the ensuing days.

He said the consultation will take into consideration issues such as the international implications in all areas among others, insisting the withdrawal from the Africa National Olympic Committee Association (ANOCA) and IOC remains their last option.

Dr Nunoo said the IOC's call for the now-democratically elected presidents' to be led by a GOC executive who were undemocratically appointed onto their associations was unimaginable. He said the inconsistency "with the position in their earlier correspondent of November 25, 2009 constitute a fundamental departure from their original position", branding it as a shift in goalpost. 05 Nov. 10