A former Chairman of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has described the local football governing body as a breeding place of ‘serpents’ in Ghana football.
According to Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, his predecessor who died in July 2016, Ben Koufie made this revelation to him citing the latter once tagged the Football Association as a ‘snake pit' due to the incessant bribery and corruption among other acts of misconduct there.
The Board Member of Hearts of Oak said before his appointment to the seat of a chairman, he got the tip-off about conducts of some officials at the FA, however it could not be justified until he signed up for the position.
“When I came in and took over from Ben Koufie, he whispered into my ears and said, there is a lot of problem at this place. In fact he named it a snake pit, and I laughed” Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe said in an interview on GhanaWeb’s “21 Minutes with KKB”.
“When I resumed work, within a short period of time I realized Ben Koufie was right.”
Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe however revealed that through democratic action, he managed to make some reforms to at the FA which has come crushing down in the past days due to corruption allegations levelled against some of its officials.
His remark comes on the back of the exposé by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, on the worrying trend of deep-seated corruption in Ghana’s football industry.
The video, among other things, implicated top officials of the football association including its President at the time, Kwesi Nyantakyi taking bribes to influence various aspects of the game, including call-ups to the national team, the duration of playing time for some players and the selection of unfit players and referees to participate in games.
Over 100 referees, match commissioners and top officials of the Ghana Football Association were captured engaging in some corrupt practices and match-fixing activities, which contradicts with the laws of the association and the parent body, FIFA as well.
Following the first screening of the video on Wednesday, June 6 which attracted over 10,000 persons to the Accra International Conference Centre, many Ghanaians called for a total overhaul of the GFA and the immediate resignation of the indicted officials including Kwesi Nyantakyi, who has since tendered in his resignation letter.
The government announced Thursday that it had initiated steps to have the Ghana Football Association dissolved due to widespread nature of the canker in the association but the GFA seems to have started internal processes to clean its outfit.
The plan has since been opposed by a section of the public who have argued the GFA is an autonomous body and the government must not be seen to be interfering in its affairs.
However, the GFA after its Executive Committee meeting on Friday, June 8 constituted a 5-member committee to meet with the government in order to resolve the current football crisis in the country.
The committee, led by lawyer Kweku Eyiah, is expected to confer with the government to come up with reforms that will help to strengthen football in Ghana.
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has also directed all of its officials caught on camera taking bribes, among other acts of misconduct, to step aside for investigations to take place smoothly.
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