Delegates have voted to adopt the new statutes of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) at Thursday’s Extraordinary Congress.
Amendments were made to Articles 26 and 37 which deal with the composition of the Congress and the term limits of the Executive Council members respectively.
Following a short delay due to some confusion over the method of voting, 115 of 123 members voted in favour of the adoption of the draft statutes.
The tenure of the GFA President has now been limited to two terms of four years each.
The number of delegates in Congress has also been reduced to 120 with PFAG’s representation down from 6 to 2 while the Regional Football Association’s representatives rise to 20.
New statutes
In July, FIFA approved the recommendations made to the statutes of the GFA.
Dr. Kofi Amoah had said earlier in an interview with GTV Sports that FIFA had assessed the recommendations for the statutes and what that would mean for the start of football in Ghana once again.
‘Not invited’
Absent from today’s Congress are persons who were caught in the exposé by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas after they were barred from attending.
A statement signed by the association’s Deputy General Secretary, Alex Asante, the GFA said the decision was pursuant to a decision of the GFA Executive Committee on June 5, 2018, which asked all persons implicated in the Anas documentary to step aside until the Ethics Committee decided on their conduct.
Normalization Committee named
The Normalisation Committee was set up by FIFA in September 2018 to run Ghana football in an interim capacity to replace the erstwhile Executive Committee of the disgraced Ghana Football Association.
This was after investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ uncovering of corruption in Ghana football which led to former President of the GFA, Kwesi Nyantakyi, resigning and being banned for life from all football-related activities at both national and international level.
FIFA named ex-Kotoko Board Member, Kofi Duah Adonteng as one of the members of the Normalization Committee in September 2018.
He was however later replaced by ex-Ghana international Samuel Osei Kuffour.
Another member of the Committee, former Airtel CEO Lucy Quist also left the role for “personal reasons.”
The Committee is currently chaired by Dr. Kofi Amoah, and also includes Naa Odofoley Nortey, a board member of the Attorney General’s department.
Core mandate
- To run the GFA’s daily affairs and cooperate with the special task force once it has been set up by FIFA, CAF and the Government of Ghana.
- To review the GFA statutes to ensure compliance with the requirements of FIFA and CAF, particularly Article 15 of the FIFA Statutes; and, once the GFA statutes meet the requirements of FIFA and CAF.
- To organise and conduct elections of a GFA Executive Committee on the basis of the revised GFA statutes.
It was initially handed a six-month mandate, ending March 31, 2019.
However, due to its inability to complete its core duties of reviewing and organizing fresh elections for a new GFA President and Executive Committee while also managing the day-to-day affairs of Ghana football, it had its tenure extended by FIFA.