Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo has reechoed that he has no quarrel with Fifa’s stance on separating football from politics but maintains the running of the sport should not be ultra vires of the laws of the land.
Touching on his core lessons from the Anas exposé on corruption in football which saw his name smeared by ex-Ghana FA president Kwesi Nyantakyi and how the relationship between government and the national football association should be, the President said:
“I think that the fundamental arrangement that there is in the administration of football which FIFA has implemented and adhered to all these years, is still the right call; which is that essentially football should be the responsibility of football people and as much as possible government should keep out of the administration of football.
“I don’t think that too many people have a problem with that fundamental position. But football, like any activity in the society or the state, has to be carried out within the laws of the country. And the laws of the country, that’s the responsibility of government. All the stuff that appeared on those videos pointing to the possibility of criminal conduct and all of that is not possible for government to turn a blind eye to these things on the basis that ‘this is about football.’ On that principle, you could do that compartmentalization on all aspect of the society’s activities.., no.!
“Maintenance of law and order, respect for our laws, the compliance and respect of it, that is squarely the responsibility of government. And that responsibility is not in any way diminished because it is in a particular area which is supposed to be a preserve of a particular group of people… and that is not the lesson this matter taught me. This is a matter that I’ve always understood.”
The new chapter
In the move for a new era in the administration of football, Fifa in consultation with the Government of Ghana formed a four-member Normalization Committee to spearhead reforms for the sport in the country. Kofi Amoah, Lucy Quist, Naa Odofoley and Duah Adonten were appointed on to this Committee on September 13.
President Akufo-Addo at Wednesday’s media encounter said he has high hopes that the “upright, straightforward, intelligent, capable Ghanaians” serving on the Committee will succeed:
“What I’m hoping for out of it is happening. It’s that through this Normalization Committee that government and Fifa worked out together to establish, a new beginning in Ghanaian football administration is going to be started. The process is there for them to make a new constitution and to begin and put in a structure that hopefully will prevent the kind of things that we’ve seen in the past. That is my hope and I think that it should be the hope of all of us – that this game that we all adore [pause]. There is nobody in this country that loves football more than me. I will say that as a matter of record. There is nobody in Ghana who loves football more than me [laughs]. Anybody who knows, will tell that I’m a fanatic.
“But the picture that was brought to us is not a picture that was encouraging. Something had to be done about it. And it had to be done under the responsibility of government for the maintenance of law and order in our country and I think that remains constant.
“I am hoping that the people who are put on the Normalization Committee will lead the process of a more sane football administration that will be more transparent in the way things are done and try to balance the various interests that there are in football – the interests of we the spectators, the interests of those who put their money in football, administrators, players, clubs, a whole bundle of things; they have to find a way of linking them together. I’m hoping.
“It [scandal] has happened elsewhere. We’ve seen, have watched on television… Fifa itself, only a few years ago, had issues of Blatter… they were chastised and sanctioned by courts of law so the basic premise which Fifa wants world football [to be administered], I don’t quarrel with it but at the same time, this residual authority of the state to make sure that everybody in it obliges with its rules and regulations, culture of due process must continue to be upheld,” he noted.
The Normalization Committee was handed a six-month mandate ending March 31, 2019. A new president for the Ghana Football Association is expected to be elected on that date.
