Anybody who thinks justice has been done by the life ban sentences imposed on Tamale-based Referee J.D.K. Essel and G.M. Affizie, for the roles they played in the scandalous Charles Taylor yellow card episode, must be living in a cloud cuckoo land.
The ban only scratched the surface of the matter, which tells everything about what is rotten in our game.
In spite of the lack of concrete evidence of bribery on the part of Accra Hearts of Oak or Asante Kotoko, the two giants in Ghana football, who were at each other's throat on the issue, I believe there is more to it than the world of Ghana football has been told.
It is ridiculous for a referee who has shown a yellow card to a particular player to want to substitute the name of another for the offence under no inducement.
It is not natural, given the ordinary scheme of things.
The second scenario, reference the facts before the Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Football Association, is that according to Referee Essel, Match Commissioner Affizie, the official appointed by the GFA to supervise the knight of the whistle, influenced him to substitute Jacob Nettey for Charles Taylor.
Now, the question one needs to demand answers to is: Why would the two people, entrusted by the Ghana Football Association to preside over a match without prejudice, conspire to change the course of the game if they were not under some kind of influence?
There is more to this case than two people deciding among themselves to change the course of Ghana football. That is why a full-scale investigation needs to be carried out to establish the truth and nothing but the truth.
I am afraid the GFA lacks the skill and technical expertise to conduct this kind of investigation. That is why I welcome the decision to hand over the two match officials to the Bureau of National Investigation to get to the bottom of the matter.
I do not believe the two officials simply plotted to disrupt the course of justice in our game without any influence from those who stood to benefit from the ability of Charles Taylor to avoid suspension. I believe a date with E.T. Mensah's mosquitoes at the BNI bunker, will prepare the minds of the two match officials to let the world of Ghana football into the events leading to their plot.
I am amazed at the conclusion by the Disciplinary Committee that the evidence of the two match officials "could only lead to suspicion but not implicating any Hearts official of misbehaviour."
If allegation by Essel that overtures were made by a Kotoko official, is ground for further investigation, why would the Disciplinary committee not be interested in recommending to the GFA to invite the BNI to thoroughly examine whether the plot hatched by the two officials to bring the game into disrepute, was not influenced by someone who stood to gain from the ability of Charles Taylor to perform in Kumasi against Asante Kotoko?
This matter is dirty. I can assure the world of Ghana football that Accra Hearts of Oak might not be the angel that the Disciplinary Committee is trying to portray.
One would like to believe that suspicion is grounds for further investigation and that is why the GFA has done well to bring in the BNI.
Ghana football is fraught with many fraudulent characters using underworld dealings to satisfy their selfish interests while our football is dragged in the mud.
It does football in this country no good that suspicion clouds administration of the game.
I am glad that the FA has not missed this opportunity to clean their act. There are too many fraudulent characters in football in Ghana who should be exposed for what they are.
We should not behave like the ostrich in English folklore and bury our heads in the sand instead of confronting the problem and dealing with it.
Ghana football is fraught with underhand dealings that induce strange decisions from match officials. How many allegations have not been made in this country about referees changing the course of games by very strange decisions? Like typical Ghanaians that we are, we tend to dismiss these allegations in public only to whisper about their bad influences on the game in private.
I am challenging the GFA and its leadership to make a test case out of this episode. The FA should take courage in the fact that there are many Ghanaians out there crying for a clean image for Ghana football.
I do not believe we have short memories to the extent of forgetting the events leading to the Accra Sports Stadium Disaster that claimed 126 lives. It was the perception by a section of followers of the game, mainly supporters of Kumasi Asante Kotoko that the referee, J. Wilson Sey of Cape Coast had not been fair in allowing the equalizer slotted in by Ishmael Addo, at a time an assistant referee had flagged for offside that brought the madness in them. The rioting that followed the expression of dissatisfaction brought in a poorly trained police to fire into the North Stand and led to the panic reaction and that massive loss of lives.
If authorities would care to know, it was the perception by the rioting fans that the referee was influenced by material inducement that brought out the animal instinct in them. That is why football in Ghana should begin to erase this perception by dealing decisively with those caught influencing the course of the game.
The monkey doctrine in our game that we see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil while the football fraternity is driven by evil deeds of very fraudulent characters is one reason our game is unable to rise above mediocrity.
From the FA secretariat, through the various committees, Ghana football is been contaminated by the domineering presence of some people who see the game only as a means of aiding their lives in the fast lane.
In societies where football is taken seriously, breaches of football laws and regulations lead to very stringent sanctions. One clear example is the events leading to the demotion of Olympic Marseille, the French Champions who won the European Cup in 1993.
When allegations of bribery were made against the club and its President Bernard Tarpei, a thorough investigation involving the French police was instituted. When the allegation was proved, a French court threw the President in jail. The club was also demoted as punishment for using unfair practices to gain undue advantage.
We could learn a lot from the French example. I believe most soccer fans will be happy with the decision to hand over the two gentlemen to the BNI, which has the machinery to investigate the matter and deal with the underhand dealings that have shamed Ghana soccer.
It will help cure this nation's football of the ills that have conspired against our inability to go to the World Cup. Things worth doing are worth doing well!
