GHALCA urges faith Committee

Accra, April 14, GNA - The Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) says instead of criticising the five-man committee mandated to restructure the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in conformity with FIFA's order, Ghanaians and indeed the football fraternity should rather encourage it to do a good job.

Mr Kudjoe Fianoo, Administrative Manager of GHALCA, told the GNA Sports in Accra that it was not out of place for "football people" to be nominated to undertake a "football job".

Congress, the highest decision making body of the GFA last Thursday named Kwesi Nyantakyi, Vice Chairman of the GFA Management Board, Jones Alhassan-Abu, Kwame Ntow-Fiako, Fred Crentsil and Randy Abbey to undertake the restructuring exercise to conform to FIFA standards.

But the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) at a press conference on Wednesday called for a broad-based membership to embrace all stakeholders to be chaired by an eminent football administrator with a legal background.

SWAG proposed names like Prof. Kofi Kumado, a former management member of the GFA and a lawyer, Kofi Dua-Adonteng, Managing Director of Ghana Post and a lawyer, Alhaji M. N. D Jawula, Nana Sam Brew Butler both past GFA chairmen, Justice A. K .B Ampiah-President of Congress, Oheneba Charles, a former management member of the GFA and Mr Abrah Appiah, Chairman of the Professional League Board (PLB).

Mr Fianoo said much as he reckons that the inclusion of some of the "eminent" people would add value to the work of the committee, it would also be wrong to conclude that because the proposed names were not part of committee, "nothing good would come out of it".

"In any case the committee was formed by Congress, which involved all stakeholders in the game and could not be said to be unfair", he told the GNA Sports.

The five-man committee includes two distinguished lawyers - Nyantekyi and Ntow-Fiako and Jones Alhassan-Abu, a renowned sports administrator and a former management member of the GFA. He also reacted to the assertion that GHALCA was becoming too powerful and was overstepping its bounds.

The administrative manager said the GFA is affiliated to FIFA and GHALCA also an affiliate of the FA such that anything GHALCA does in the interest of the game could not be said to be outside its jurisdiction. He said sports in general was not doing too well in the country so people cannot attribute GHALCA's insistence on the right thing being done to mean "overstepping its bounds".

Mr Fianoo noted that football, which is run by philanthropists including club chairmen, most of who are members of GHALCA, needed to be encouraged to do a lot more for the sport and not criticised needlessly.

FIFA in a letter ordered the GFA to streamline and simplify its structures with a four-power system - the legislative (congress), executive (executive committee) and judicial (disciplinary and appeals committees), as was the case in FIFA, Confederations and football associations around the world.

Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, Chairman of the Management Board of the GFA was the first to criticise the composition of the Committee alleging that most of the members were either Executive Council or CHALCA members who were calling for his impeachment.

The GFA has three months to forward a roadmap that will effect the needed changes to FIFA.