CAF Boss Confers Prez Kuffour

The president of the Confederation of African Football Issa Hayatou is in Ghana at the invitation of the Ghana Government to in the words of Ghanaian officials ''discuss the way forward for African football.''

Hayatou arrived in Accra on Monday, before attending a national prayer session for Moslems at the country’s independence square with Ghana president John Kuffour.

Ghana is bidding to host the 2008 African Nations Cup but officials of the bid committee say Hayatou’s visit has nothing to do with that bid.

Rex Danquah of the bid committee says that Ghana’s president John Kuffour, concerned by the rapid decline of Ghana football would only be seeking to tap Hayatou’s rich knowledge on how to revive the country’s fortunes when the two meet in a closed door meeting during the visit.

Danquah said that given that Hayatou was facing an election in January before the venue of the 2008 African Nations Cup will be decided, there was no advantage Ghana would gain from Hayatou’s visit in the bidding war. The other countries involved in the race for the hosting rights of the 2008 tournament are Algeria and Ethiopia.

But Danquah conceded the CAF President would use the visit to solicit Ghana’s support in his bid for re-election against Botswana’s Ishmael Bhamjee on the eve of next year’s African Nations Cup.