GFA President Kurt Okraku accused of marginalising referees

Chairman of the Referees Association of Ghana (RAG), George Saijah, has criticised Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kurt Okraku for allegedly sidelining the association in key decision-making processes.

Speaking on Asempa FM, Mr. Saijah disclosed that RAG raised concerns with the GFA president regarding the formation of a separate body tasked with referee appointments—an area RAG traditionally oversees. However, he claimed their concerns were dismissed.

"We had a meeting with the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt Okraku, and we complained to him about how RAG has suddenly been sidelined and told him RAG cannot in existence while there is a different body appointing referees to officiate matches but he didn't give us any positive feedback," he told Asempa FM.

Mr. Saijah further revealed that referees in the Premier League, Division One, and Women’s League are owed 22 weeks of unpaid allowances.

He called on former President John Mahama and former Chief of Staff Julius Debrah to intervene.

"We [Referees Association of Ghana] are calling on the President [John Mahama] and the Chief of Staff [Julius Debrah] to come to our rescue because we cannot continue to pre-finance our games. We are crying and we need our money. Premier League, Division One and Women's League referees were only paid 12 weeks out of 34 weeks.

"We cannot continue like this because the Referees Association of Ghana has been good to this country, but the Ghana Football Association has decided not to settle our outstanding debt," he added.