I should have charged the Ghana FA more for my services - Naa Odofoley

Lawyer Naa Odofoley Nortey, the woman who masterminded a landmark victory for the Ghana Football Association in their case with Wilfred Kwaku Osei Palmer has said, with the benefit of hindsight she should have charged more for her service to the association.

Naa Odofoley was the lead lawyer for the FA after the Tema Youth owner dragged the association to court following his disqualification from the 2019 GFA Elections after he was accused of breaching some ethical codes in the FA’s statutes.

Odofoley was a member of the now-defunct GFA Normalisation Committee which also acted as the Elections Committee during the 2019 elections.

After her job on the NC was done, she was hired as a private legal practitioner to argue in favour of the GFA in the CAS case.

After 11 months of legal battle, CAS ruled that the Vetting Committee set up by the Normalisation Committee was right to disqualify Mr Osei Palmer from the race due to his failure to pass an integrity test.

That victory means the GFA President Kurt Okraku who won last year’s elections will stay on until the end of his tenure.

After saving the FA from an election re-run in the event of a Palmer victory, Naa Odofoley says she should have been paid more for her work.

Speaking on Angel FM she said “on hindsight, I should have charged more, especially because I didn’t consider all the insults and attacks on my person and firm. I charged for the legal work but the stray bullets were never considered,” she said.

Despite failing to mention how much she was paid for her work, she said: “I knew the state of the GFA finances at the time because I was there and I wasn’t about to hold them to ransom when they had literally just walked in.”

Meanwhile, despite the vicious attacks and sexists attacks she suffered, Naa Odofoley says she has no regret over her decision to serve on the Normalisation Committee.

During the almost one-year period of the committee, Odofoley was consistently dragged by some soccer administrators who openly expressed their misgivings with her attitude.

Initially, her competence was questioned as some suggested that her presence on the committee was due to her relationship with certain figures within the government.

The second phase of the attacks saw her and other committee members being under siege for allegedly pocketing loads of cash from FIFA.

Some critics alleged that the NC was unwilling to complete their work because of the benefits they were enjoying from the deal.

But as stated in an earlier interview Odofoley says the $4,000 monthly allowance was peanut.

The lawyer with over seventeen years of experience says she lost out on some major deals because of her commitment to Ghana football.

“It was very funny people felt we were dragging. I was in a hurry to meet the next legal year and start. I had already missed one year and I had clients who were threatening to take their cases elsewhere. It is public knowledge that I was paid $4,000 a month.”

For someone who suffered all these attacks, you would assume that Odofoley would have some regrets for putting her law profession on hold to help deliver Ghana football from the shackles of the Number12 documentary but that is not the case.

Odofoley says the experience has been worthwhile.

“I don’t regret serving on the Normalization Committee despite the issues. Despite the baptism of fire and everything, I have not regretted one bit, It has been a useful exercise and I have met some wonderful people. I have learnt a lot about human nature and bettered myself.”