Parliament happy with Black Stars but

Accra, June 28, GNA - The issue of bad officiating, thought to have cost the Black Stars a place in the quarterfinals of the ongoing World Cup tournament in Germany took centre stage in Parliament on Wednesday with Members calling on FIFA to live up to its fair play rule.

While members expressed satisfaction with the brilliant performance of the Black Stars in the match against Brazil in the 1/16 stage of the competition, they were unanimous in condemning the referee, who they said gave Brazil the chance to qualify at the expense of the senior national team.

Mr Sampson Ahi, NDC-Juaboso, was of the view that African countries should not allow biased officiating to deny them the chance of making it to the top in future World Cup tournaments.

He called on African Leaders to unite in boycotting future

World Cup tournaments as a sign of protest against

discriminatory practices against Blacks. Mr Ahi, who was contributing to a statement by Mr Felix

Owusu-Adjapong, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, on the

excellent performance by the national team, said the Black

Stars lost the match because the numerous cards shown to

them intimidated them. Mr Haruna Iddrisu, NDC-Tamale South, however, stood up

on a point of order and said it would be bad for the records

of the Ghanaian Parliament to send out signals that it was

advocating a future African boycott of world cups and asked

that the Member tones down on his demands for a boycott. Mr Iddrisu was of the view that FIFA President Sepp

Blatter had shown great interest in the development of

African soccer and South Africa was hosting the 2010 edition

and it would be wrong to support a boycott. Mr Owusu-Adjapong, earlier in his statement,

congratulated the national team saying they outplayed the

Brazilians in every aspect of the game and but for the bad

officiating Ghana could have made it. He said the Slovak Referee, Lubos Michel, was "really an

apology for a FIFA Referee. These are the kinds of guys,

who are really killing people's interest in the game of football

and hence must be checked by FIFA". He called on CAF to take up the issue of bias officiating

against African teams in view of the 2010 world Cup. The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs was also of the view that the lack of potency in attack was an added factor in Ghana's loss.

Mr Joseph Aidoo, NPP-Amenfi East, said the Sports Ministry should as a matter of policy go out and search for strikers to prepare for the 2010 tournament. Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu, Second Deputy Speaker, urged Ghanaians to build upon the successes of the tournament and avoid sliding back.