Baba Gedo's bribery confession, a test case for the GFA

Over the years, the Ghana Premier League has been swimming in a pool of bribery ad corruption - all allegations though - but we have always had the Casiopoli experience to learn from. An allegation led to authorities investigating which eventually trapped many clubs including Juventus who were, in the end, demoted to the lower division.

In our situation, the cliché has always been 'No evidence'. This has been the chant of football authorities, which to some extent make sense because some of the allegations are too lame.

Regardless, we have had cruciating evidence that beg for investigation but football authorities look on either unconcerned or helplessly clueless to say the least.

There have been several revealing comments from pincipal actors in the industry including players, administrators, coaches and referees, yet the GFA and her judicial bodies make no attempt to rectify the situation.

But the recent revelation by the President of Amidaus Professionals, Baba Gedo, will be a real test case for the GFA if indeed they are committed to fighting bribery and corruption in Ghana football.

For the records, Baba Gedo revealed on Happy FM that he has been paying bribes to referees to the tune of over GHC100K to skew results in his favour. Do we need any other evidence? Maybe yes, per GFA standards.

I remember Alhaji Grusah challenging all football administrators at Congress, in the presence of the GFA President, to swear if none has paid bribes to referees before. The silence that consumed the room was enough to tell that none is innocent. The King Faisal founder confessed paying bribes to referees at the 2014 Presidential Commission of Inquiry sitting throwing another punchless challenge to all club administrators, it went with the wind.

On their way to the Ghana Premirr League, Bolga All Stars were fingered in a scandalous match fixing allegation when they played Bofoakwa Tano FC at the Sunyani Coronation Park. The GFA cluelessly watched. Bolga All Stars have been relegated again after just a season in the premiership. Could it be because they did not qualify on merit?

All these happenings had been preceded by a referee who had GHC4000 in his stockings while officiating a league match. It was a sunny Sunday, and the source of such an amount on a referee while officiating a game will invite thorough investigation from any serious federation but we watched on.

Juat a few days ago, retired referee Nsiah Boafo, who is the Vice Chairman of the Referees Association of Ghana, accused club owners for forcing bribes on referees, adding he has accepted bribes from countless club owners. Can't he be the starting point of a serious investigation into the bribery canker?

Assuming without admitting that Alhaji Grusah challenge and Nsiah Boafo' revelations are not enough, what about Baba Gedo's?

Let the GFA set some standards to sanitize the system.