Dissolving GFA is inappropriate - Yaw Oppong disagrees with government

Private legal practitioner Yaw Oppong has described as inappropriate plans by government to dissolve the Ghana Football Association following the release of investigative journalist Anas’ Number 12 video which implicates some officials of the GFA.

Yaw Oppong who was speaking on TV3 New Day is of the view that specific individuals implicated in the video should be dealt with, instead of targeting the entire association.

“It is more appropriate and better to deal with individuals as far as the company’s act permits. We are annihilating the GFA, but we need it,” Yaw Oppong noted.

He stated that it is not right for government to take a decision to dissolve the football association because it is not a public body.

“The Supreme Court on one occasion has emphasized that the GFA is not a public body, it was not a body established by statutes.”

The legal practitioner argued that even some public institutions where individuals have been caught engaging in fraudulent acts are still operating, but the individuals were dealt with.

According to him, a similar thing happened with the then Customs Excise Preventive Service (CEPS) where some individuals were caught taking bribes, but CEPS was not dissolved.

“The point I am making is that the fact that individuals in an institution have engaged in a proven misconduct does not mean the institution should be dissolved, so a few judges are engaged in a few immoral acts so you dissolve the judiciary?” he questioned.

“If individuals have been accused and we think the enormity of it means that they must suffer some liability, we move them and that decision can be taken by the board and stakeholders,” Yaw Oppong further emphasized.

He also said there is no evidence that the GFA itself is being used as a tool to defraud or commit fraud, hence, it should not be dissolved.

“Three or four of its executives may be accused of wrongdoing but that does not mean that the entire institution has now become a tool for committing fraud, and fraud can only be proven in court,” the legal practitioner stated.