Nyantakyi says you can bring it on!

Hello there. What's good wherever you are?

A couple of days ago, some of my media pals were in a frenzied state of accusatory agitation. The reason? The Ghana Football Association president (Kwasi Nyantakyi) had scored an own goal – as some put it – when he had urged referees to take bribes…

…he did ask them to take bribes and even recommended that referees who take bribes and report such cases be handsomely rewarded with amounts perhaps double the bribery sum.

If you ask me, this is a very touchy situation but I tend to agree with what he is saying because we live in a world where no matter what you would do, referees would always be approached to fix games. To defend himself from the outcry that has arisen, he’s said he was taken out of context.

The GFA president is quoted by the Graphic Sports paper as saying that he couldn’t possibly have condoned corruption at last Saturday’s event which was where he made those utterances. In his own defence he says:

“Unless my comments were taken out of context I don’t think my comments in any way sought to encourage corruption among football referees in Ghana.

I told them to collect the bribes and do the right thing. I had first made the point that corruption in any form cannot be tolerated and in football we need to weed out such practice.

If there are no bribe givers there would not be bribe takers. Accepting and delivering fairness would discourage the givers...”

He didn’t stop there in his address as the young lawyer also went on to say that a particular crop of referees who are noted to take bribes are known to the authorities.

“But because in any case of bribery both the giver and receiver are guilty, those who make such allegations in informal settings are reluctant to provide evidence to support such cases.”

Well, so that’s the whole wahala of the issue which I feel is a non-issue. I fully support his pronouncements. Meanwhile people have said that the Parliament must call him to order and question him publicly though Nyantakyi says he doesn’t know anything about that.

Me, I think his explanations in the papers are enough.

Enjoy the weekend, all!

Another Fifa baby

For three days in the past week, football persons have been locked up in a healthy banter over Ghana's future football direction.

Ghana successfully ended the three-day Com-Unity seminar, a presidential initiative sponsored by Fifa which gathered various football stakeholders to deliberate on the values of the sport on Thursday.

Radio France Internationale's (RFI) correspondent David Hatton was on my show, Sports World that runs on on Atlantis radio, and he extolled the virtues of Ghana and punctuated his statements by saying that "Ghana is in the good books of Fifa."

That may be true.


The session was aimed at developing grassroots football and participation. At the end of the stakeholders meeting, the consensus was that the hard work begins now if further progress was to be made for a nation so dominant in football both at the seniors and junior levels.

Participants exchanged frank views and agreed that the event provided the catalyst to augment the FA's four-year development plan.

Kwesi Nyantakyi, President of the Ghana Football Association admits that the country has learned fresh lessons from Fifa's Com-Unity seminar held in Accra.

The FA President says the first steps of further broadening the relationship between the sport body and the Ghana's footballing community has already started.

"This event has met my expectation. All issues were adequately addressed by the team of experts drawn from here (Ghana) and brought by Fifa.

"I believe Ghana got the best out of this seminar which has lived up to its billing.

The Ghana Football Association says its vision is to re-energise the development of grassroots football. The Com-Unity brought together Ghana's footballing officials, government, Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), education officers, the media and sponsors.

Ghana's sports minister, Mohammed Mubarak Muntanka was full of praise for Fifa's efforts to bring the seminar, the first of its kind in West Africa to Ghana.

"We would seek further co-operations to develop the game and would always make ourselves available to hold such important seminars."

Fifa experts including Avry Yvon Azmel Marie, Colin Udoh and Kalusha Bwalya all made valuable contributions.

Kalusha Bwalya, who represented Fifa President, Sepp Blatter told the Ghanaian side that the real business of attaining success begins now.

"The beginning of the real work starts now. The grassroots needs much more attention if the country wants to reach the top."

You're right, Mr. Bwalya.

_____

Come what May....GFA vs Gov't

I am sure that was his reaction after the game and funny thing is Arsenal play several big teams before the end of this season.

Come what May, Arsenal shall have a trophy in our hands. That should be nice, really. After waiting so long. What happens is that the Gunners play Chelsea on Saturday, Liverpool next Tuesday and then two Man United UCL games. Having said that it is possible Arsenal can play Chelsea in the UCL final too, as well as United in the FA Cup final.

Wow, what a prospect! Whatever it is, the final stretch should be great to see. Back home, trouble here, trouble there, trouble everywhere.

Trouble here

This morning at the Secretariat of the Ghana football association the GFA president met the press to give its position on recent developments. I'll just give the pointers to what he said, the full text of which is here.

A somber looking Nyantakyi told the gathering that the alleged report the government transition team has recommended that the tenure of the FA should be reviewed or halted altogether is misleading. He also questioned the motives behind several of the transition teams’ recommendations saying that the recommendations were without legal grounds or basis.

Top of the list was the issue of auditing the accounts. Though agreeing that audits were necessary in any public institution, Mr Nyantakyi intimated that there was no current need for an audit into the 2006 world cup accounts and specifically the payment of bonuses, per diem allowances and other emoluments paid during the last mundial because he thought that would be redundant.

The GFA boss also reminded the gathering that the 2006 world cup accounts have already been audited by the Office of the Auditor General of Ghana and its findings had been seconded by Congress of the Ghana Football Association, the then Ministry for Education, Science and Sports and also the Parliament of Ghana.

Essentially Nyantakyi has asked the Government to stay the fuck out of the FA's business. Ouch."

Now the GFA boss mentioned that his outfit has difficulty in accepting the recommendation by the government transition team that the government should appoint representatives to the Management Committees of the various national teams. Mr Nyantakyi clearly stated that this amounts to interference and reminded the gathering that FIFA frowns on such acts.

The GFA boss also clarified the role of management committees, saying that such bodies hardly handle cash meant for financing programmes of the national teams. Instead the GFA boss said that direct cash components are handled by officials of the sector Ministry and not members of management committees.

Finally, the GFA boss questioned the reasoning behind the government’s interest in buses and footballs meant for the Glo Premier league supplied by sponsors to the national teams, since he claims those entities are not the bona fide property of the government, adding that the balls do not in anyway distract the proceedings of the league.

In effect, the GFA is really pissed with Hon. Muntaka and cronies. And no mistake!

In essence, the GFA president reiterated the body’s collaboration with the sports and youth ministry to ensure that Ghana achieves her target including a qualification to next year’s world cup in South Africa calling for the need for all to remain focused on work at hand.