Lawyer Larbi Amoah says Ghana football administration, following the Anas expose, cannot be successfully restructured by the FIFA normalisation committee without a clear government policy on football and sports.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said on Wednesday , in his encounter with the media, he is hoping for the GFA normalisation committee to successfully reform Ghana football administration but legal practitioner Emmanuel Larbi Amoah has quickly moved to dismiss the President’s optimism for the Kofi Amoah-led committee to restructure the country’s football administration.
“Irrespective of what was in the Anas video I believe the government has done more harm than good to our football. ” Larbi Amoah told Kumasi-based Silver FM’s Gariba Raubil on Thursday in a lengthy interview.
“Because the government itself has got no such thing like list of assignments they have tasked the normalisation committee to complete at the end of their mandate. Where is our football policy? I say we do not have. ” the legal luminary quizzed.
“If we had a football or sports policy from the government then the committee will be guided by such policy. They (normalisation committee) will then work towards that but we don’t have such policy document. Or is it the normalisation committee that is going to make such policy. If yes then I think it is going to take about ten years for them to do so.
Assuming without admitting that everything was wrong (in the old football administration ) what is right and what is right should form part of the government’s policy for football or sports going forward.
The government has to look at the corruption act and so people found guilty of corruption can be punished according to the laws. As it stands now the laws do not bite corrupt people in football because they are not public officials. Why is government not doing that? And if this is done I think it will bring more sanity to our game. ” he explained further.
“Why are they not punishing Nyantakyi and the other football people that appeared in the Anas video. It is because the government has got no strong basis to prosecute him and since when was the Anas video shown. That is back in June and where are we now. So you understand what I’m saying” lawyer Amoah who also represents Medeama SC quizzed.
Despite the terms of reference for the normalisation committee by FIFA, Larbi Amoah still believes the scope of issues confronting the country’s football goes beyond the work of the committee.
“The FIFA terms of reference within which the committee is working is not enough. Are we saying after making new laws and organizing elections for the next GFA executives and organizing games that will be all for our football? Are we saying what FIFA has tasked the normalisation committee to do is enough for us? If that is the case then the government should let us know so that at the end the committee’s mandate we assess the government’s quest to reform football against the FIFA terms of reference only . ” the lawyer of David Duncan added.
“For me I know this normalisation committee will be a failure. It will not yield any good results. When we talk about reforms it is Congress of the GFA that does that and without Congress you cannot organize elections and so I do not see any serious work they can do.” he concluded.
Kofi Amoah, Lucy Quist, Naa Odofoley Nortey and Duah Adonteng were appointed on September 13 by FIFA to form a four-member committee to normalize the game and the President has backed them to succeed in sanitizing the administration of football in the country but football lawyer Larbi Amoah believes it is not going to work.
